Stephen Gallacher was delighted to land a wildcard for this month’s Ryder Cup match at Gleneagles.
Gallacher, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter were given the three wildcards with former world number one Luke Donald among those missing out.
39-year-old Gallacher missed out on automatic qualification by a single shot after finishing third at the Italian Open at the weekend.
A top two finish would have allowed Gallacher to leapfrog Graeme McDowell and claim the ninth automatic qualifying place.
But European captain Paul McGinely opted to include Gallacher among his three wildcard picks, which were announced at Wentworth this lunchtime.
It will be a first Ryder Cup for rookie Gallacher but his family is steeped in the history of the biennial tussle against the United States with his uncle Bernard having played in the event as well as captained the side in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
The Press and Journal columnist has enjoyed a memorable 2014 season in which he retained his Omega Dubai Desert Classic title in February and made eight top ten finishes.
He said: “It is massive for me and my family.
“It has always been a goal of mine to get in and I was just delighted when I got the call on Monday from Paul.
“My emotions were a bit mixed after the round on Sunday. I was delighted with the way I had played and I was disappointed that I hadn’t managed to qualify automatically.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen and it was a really long day waiting for the phone to ring on Monday but it was all worth it in the end.”
The nine automatic qualifiers for the European team were world number one Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Thomas Bjorn, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose as well as debutants Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson.
United States captain Tom Watson will name his three wildcard picks later today.
Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reid and Zach Johnson have already qualified.