Scot Stephen Gallacher had a better day at the DP Tour World champion- ship in Dubai, carding three birdies in his second round of one-under-par 71.
But it was hard for the Press and Journal columnist to be too enthusiastic about the level of the improvement in his golf.
Looking up at the scoreboard for the last European Tour event of the season he was lying third from bottom in the 56-man field.
At four-over 148 overall he was a mammoth 16 shots behind the leader Henrik Stenson, who is edging closer to becoming the first man to win America’s FedEx series and Europe’s race to Dubai.
That put Gallacher’s succinct thoughts into perspective.
He said: “Yes, it was slightly better but I have really been struggling here and over the last couple of weeks.”
A great five iron into 4ft brought him his first birdie of the day at the fourth hole and hitting a wedge close set up another at the 10th.
However, the fact that he needed to hole a mammoth 35ft putt on the 15th green for his third birdie spoke volumes for the state of his game.
Gallacher could not put his finger on what is going wrong with his swing, unlike Stirling’s Craig Lee, whose two-under 70 was totally overshadowed by his playing partner Luke Donald.
Having only just crept inside Europe’s top 60 to qualify to play in Dubai, the Englishman has had a miserable year.
But after making a bogey at the first hole he then reeled off a run of six straight birdies on the way to shooting a 66 and climbing up into the top 20 on the board.
Scott Jamieson also shot a 70 to lie alongside Lee in a tie for 33rd place, while Marc Warren had a 71, leaving him in 44th place.