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WINNING the prestigious Dubai Desert Classic is one thing, but Alvaro Quiros believes he needs to find another level before he can hope one day to secure a major.
The Spanish bomber moved up to a career-best 21st in the world rankings with his thrilling win in the Gulf on Sunday after a round that went from sublime to ridiculous and back to sublime again.
He opened with a rare eagle two at the second, but then on his own admission was 'shaken' when he had a triple bogey on the eighth which included two drops and his ball getting stuck up a palm tree.
Then the hole-in-one at the 11th when he perfectly hit a three-quarters wedge stone dead from 161 yards. "I'm fighting with my swing to be more regular and consistent, but as you can see (from his scorecard) it's impossible," Quiros told journalists.
"I've been lucky, but I think everybody has to be lucky to win tournaments. I made two triple-bogeys this week, which is not a normal thing in a winner, so it means that I'm in a good way, even when I have an irregular round."
On a day when the leaderboard constantly changed, the then 36th-ranked Quiros shot a 68 to finish with an 11-under 277, one shot better than overnight co-leader Anders Hansen of Denmark and James Kingston of South Africa. A shot further back were Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France, Scott Strange of Australia and Alvaro Velasco of Spain.
Tiger Woods, who started the final day a shot off the lead, made a poor start for a second straight day with two bogeys in his first three holes and never recovered. He finished with a 3-over 75 and a share of 20th with a final total of 4-under 284.
The problem though is that while you can, at a pinch, get away with that kind of inconsistency at regular tour level, it is altogether a different proposition when it comes to the majors. There, the competition is more ferocious and mistakes are not so easily shrugged aside.
"I think winning a major is something very special for a few reasons," Quiros said. "One of the reasons is that you have to be ready to be in contention with the best players in the world. And, then I think that luck is something important."
Luck was certainly on his side a few weeks ago in Bahrain when he played alongside GulfWeekly Editor Stan Szecowka, businessman David Axtell and Bahrain City Centre's marketing manager Lori Cunningham in the Pro-Am on the day before the Volvo Golf Champions event.
After a torrential downpour Quiros slipped on a path and held out his hand to break his fall. He landed with an audible crack to the floor. Ashen-faced he examined his wrist close to the scars of an earlier operation worried about the extent of the damage.
Fortunately, after a few holes the pain disappeared and he was able to play on in comfort ... only to almost come a cropper shortly afterwards.
As Cunningham teed off her club slipped from her grasp in the soaking conditions, flew skywards and fortunately missed the star's head on its journey back down to earth.
Undeterred Quiros smiled knowingly ... nothing is going to stop him from reaching the higher echelons of the golfing world.
"In my case, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be in a good position to fight for a Top 10 in the majors. This is my target - to improve in the majors," he said. "Everything starts again from tomorrow."
The win in Dubai means that Quiros clinches a place in the next WGC World Matchplay event in Arizona later this month and he will use that as the platform to prepare for The Masters at Augusta in April.
It also means he has also booked a place in next year's European Tour opener in Bahrain ... and rumour has it that he has requested the same playing partners in the Pro-Am ... his lucky charms!
