Rafa Cabrera Bello was delighted to see the hard work paying off after finishing second at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Spaniard already has a Rolex Series win to his name at the 2017 Scottish Open but he did not taste victory again for over four years after that, slipping outside the top 200 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
His triumph at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid last October saw him return to the winner's circle and after finishing just one shot behind winner Thomas Pieters at Yas Links after four under par rounds, the 2016 Ryder Cup star feels things are once again moving in the right direction.
"I played good all week," he said. "I was up there in contention, I think co-leading with four holes to go and the final stretch was playing pretty tough.
I made a couple of, especially one, bad swing and that's it.
"I'm just happy that I put myself in that position. I know if I do that often, I'll be lifting more trophies.
"It's very nice not to only play but to be able to score good and finish the week strong.
"I put in a lot of hard work in the off-season and I am really happy it's paid off.
"I think I can play better and obviously I'm working hard to get back into the top 50 in the world and this week for sure is going to give me lots confidence towards that goal."
Shubhankar Sharma finished alongside Cabrera Bello at nine under and the Indian also took a boost in confidence from a performance that saw him come within a whisker of a third DP World Tour win.
"I'm really happy," he said. "I played very well.
"I made some good putts on the back nine, a shame that I missed that putt on 17, I should have made that putt, but made a lot of crucial putts today.
"It was playing very tough. I'm very satisfied.
"It was very important and it just gives me a lot of confidence going forward into the season.
"Some of the top players in the world were here this week and gives me a lot confidence that I can finish high up on the leaderboard and compete with them. There's so much to look forward to now."
