Finishing ninth equal with Alastair Forsyth, Jeev Milkha Singh and Charlie Wi has given me a glimmer of hope, a bit of respectability after a frustrating season. I didn't have my A game this week and these golf courses are absolutely insanely difficult and if you are not playing to your best you are really struggling and fighting all the time. I showed good fighting spirit to play my last eleven holes in one under par. That was important for me. That gave me a bit of self respect.

My putting has been superb this week. That has delighted me the most. When I get on a golf course now which is not so tough I expect to make some birdies because I am beginning to roll the ball so much better. I am excited about the rest of the season.

Today was hard. I gave myself 9 1/2 out of ten in my second round but this morning I got a little bit rattled when I made a triple bogey. The good news is that I am bouncing back with birdies quite regularly so obviously I am keeping myself in the right frame of mind. Considering I didn't play all that well, to finish relatively well on a golf course like this I have to be mentally pretty strong.

It was obviously a good week as far as the Europe Ryder Cup is concerned. Sergio has played his way in. Paul Casey has done himself some good and so have I. Every penny counts now in the last few weeks of the race. Some of the key guys are showing some form - and so am I.

I don't know whether I have done enough yet to get into the Europe team for the Ryder Cup match next month. I hope so but I might not have. I might have to head to Europe to play the Dutch and the Scottish. I have entered both but I am not sure yet. Maybe I will play, play well there and then come back to the US to play in one of the FedEx Cup events. I don't know. It is a frustrating situation. I will have to consult with Marcus Day, my manager, and see what the Ryder Cup points table tells us.

I have to rush to catch a private plane home to Orlando now to get home in time for a photo shoot at 8.00 am tomorrow. Then I am going to put my feet up for the rest of the week and have a few beers. This week has taken a lot out of all the players and I want to recharge the batteries. I am not sure a week off is enough after a week like this.

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I am shattered. The whole week was a tale of dropping a shot every three holes. I didn't think it was bad golf. It was golf that was scattered with the odd mistake and it added up to a pretty horrendous total of 21 over par. I never felt I played as bad as rounds of 74,72, 82,73 might suggest.

I think not gaining momentum cost me. Every time I got a birdie I seemed to hit it in a bunker on the next hole. I felt my head never went down out there though. All in all I'd give myself 6 out of 10 for the week. The attitude was pretty good even if the golf wasn't great. Golf-game wise I wasn't anywhere near where I wanted to be. I felt I was losing the ball right. When the wind was from the left I was having a hard time keeping it on the fairway so there were some issues there.

There were positives, too. My short game on the first and second day kept me in the tournament. I worked hard on the putting, saw some results for the first time in a long time. I felt confident over the putter. I am looking forward to carrying that momentum into the next few weeks. Having my caddie Fooch help me line my putts worked really well the first two days. I enjoyed the camaraderie of working with Fooch and the teamwork that created. It's nice to share the disappointment of a missed putt as well as sharing the enjoyment of a good read. We will carry on doing that.

One thing about playing in a wind is that it spoils your balance. Guys who grow up on these golf courses generally have ugly swings or bad grips but they have learned how to fashion the ball around a golf course somehow. In bad weather you're manipulating the clubface all the time where normally you're trying to be as neutral as possible. I have to go back to normal.

I knew there was going to be a lot of pressure on me this week. I accepted that. I don't really think it affected me. It has been a really hard year. The game is coming and going this year. If it is not one thing it is another and I don't seem to have been able to build up any momentum. I don't know if I have set my schedule up the wrong way. I don't feel as though I have been able to set a sustained run of form. I can't quite put my finger on what the issue is. The conditions didn't play into my hands this week. I was on the wrong side of the draw.

Perhaps I should have played a little bit more links golf coming in to the week. I made a conscious decision not to due to the fact that I wanted to try and keep my swing as neutral as possible. I didn't see the sense in going to Ireland for four or five days and playing in horrendous weather. I might consider doing something different next year.

I have a a week's holiday now. I might try to hit a few shots if it is a nice day but it will be nice to be back in London for a free week. We will use the time to catch up with friends. We haven't spent a free week in London for some time. Thanks for your support at Birkdale.  It's great to play in front of my home fans again.  Justin

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