Obviously I'm disappointed to not be in this year’s Masters. Since I’ve been a professional at this level I’ve always played Augusta National and enjoyed it. To be honest, it’ll be quite a weird feeling not being there.

Of course I’ll miss it, but I can’t blame the Masters committee for not inviting me. It is an invitational event and they have their reasons to invite somebody or not. So yes it’s a little bit sad that an 18-year streak has come to an end, but I have only myself to blame. I put myself in this position by not playing well last year and that’s that. It’s not going to change my life. It’s just one of those things. I’ll be back there next year.

As I said last week, what’s more important to me just now is the fact I’ve succeeded in turning my game around. I’ve had to dig very deep but I really feel like the hard work is paying off. I went into Houston on the back of two top-five finishes and continued that kind of form there to shoot four good, solid rounds of golf.

All week I wasn’t allowing myself to even think about the Masters. I just wanted to have a good tournament. Basically, my goal was to play the Shell Houston Open as good as I could and then on Sunday try to get myself into a position to win the golf tournament. I pretty much achieved that goal. I made only two bogeys all week and shot 70, 69, 69, 70 to finish in a tie for 12th place.

The pattern of my play – my competitive rhythm, as I like to call it – is so much better now than it was last year and my scores are reflecting that. My stroke average on the PGA Tour for my last 12 rounds is 69.42. All my other performance stats are heading in the right direction, too. Having had a really frustrating 12 months I’m finally taking my range game on to the course and producing some quality golf.

That’s why any disappointment that I might be feeling this week about missing the Masters is more than outweighed by my sense of optimism about the state of my game. It’s only the first week of April and I have a long season ahead of me with lots of great tournaments to look forward to. And you know something, I genuinely feel like I can win any time I tee it up right now. That’s exciting.

Okay, that’s about it for this update. I’ll write again next week before I make my way to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage on the famous Harbour Town Links – one of my favourite stops on the PGA Tour. Between now and then I’ll be working hard on my game to help give myself the best chance of getting right back in the mix again.

Bye for now.