Padraig Harrington never expected a second major victory to follow so soon after the first, but now that it has he believes there are more to come.
Harrington, who at Royal Birkdale became the first European to make a successful defence of The Open since James Braid in 1906, said: "This will give me more confidence. It was the first time I was in the last group of a major tournament on a Sunday.
"It's a different pressure and I'm delighted that I managed it. I hit the ball probably every bit as solid as I've ever hit it and I'm really thrilled with the way I felt.
"I got to sixth in the world before and I wasn't comfortable there. It was 'ooh, I'm sixth and I'm not good enough'.
"But I've improved and I'm continuing to improve. I've got to say that if you ask me my best trait over the years it's been my ability to learn.
"My goal is to keep getting myself into contention in majors. They are what it's all about for me.
"I set my schedule out for this year for the four majors and the Ryder Cup. I was trying to peak for them.
"I got myself vaguely in contention at The Masters (tying for fifth), the US Open it didn't happen (36th) and The Open it happens.
"If I can get 50 per cent into contention and then maybe hit one out of four of those you're winning every second year. That's a pretty high rate for most of us mere mortals."
Tiger Woods, of course, is more than a 'mere mortal', having already amassed 14 majors, but in his enforced absence through injury everybody was wondering who would capitalise and Harrington is the first to do it.
And he did so after a wrist problem endangered his defence of the Claret Jug. Never has 'beware the injured golfer' been so appropriate.
The concern and the focus on his health helped the Dubliner, taking the attention away from the 'can you do it again?' questions both from the media and from inside his own head.
After being outside the top 10 on the Ryder Cup points table when told to 'pull your finger out' by captain Nick Faldo at a dinner last Tuesday, Harrington is now top.
Harrington can now target the USPGA at Oakland Hills in just three weeks' time and then the match at Valhalla in September without any concern for his Cup place.
It was practising almost fanatically hard a week last Saturday which brought the wrist injury, but he has already promised a week off to celebrate before he flies to America to try to make it two majors in a row on the back of two Opens in a row.
And if he does that then reaching the world number one spot while Woods is still recovering from his knee surgery might not seem the far-off dream that it remains at the moment.
For the time being, though, third sounds good and twice Open champion sounds even better.