At El Valle, the hopes of Andy's Walker Cup Team mate Stiggy Hodgson disappeared (+2 - 29th place) as did those for Matt Cryer (+1 - 25th place). Andy opened with a disappointing 75, then shot two 70s before that 67 was was good enough by a single shot to make it through to Stage III

'I played good all that week but the greens were a bit grainy - it was close. I played really well that final nine.'.

That week was Andy's first with a bit of a 'super-caddie' in the form of Shaun from Dorset. Shaun's last caddy duties were for a certain Bill Haas when he won $10M at the PGA Tour Championship. Shaun stayed with Andy for last week.

Andy opened his attempt to win his card with a 65 round the shorter course at Girona -

'It was a lot easier - lots of wedges in and more open and generous'

That was followed by a 66 our the Championship course as Andy went trying to claw back some of leader Sam Hutsby's lead after Hutsby's own 60 on the shorter course -

'I was -5 through 7 - I didn't make the most of the start'

That 131 total left Andy in the last group with Hutsby for R3 and he closed to within a shot with a 67 -

'It was a weird day - I played nicely.'

Andy's worst round of the week came in the next round, a 72

'I was +3 after 3 and didn't play that well. I was happy to get it round.'

David Dixon was now moving into the lead and Andy needed under par to stay in the Top 10 - he managed a 71

'It was a bit of a struggle. I was happy to get it in under par.'

In the final round, Andy was +1 after 11 -

'I looked at the leaderboard and saw I was only four behind - I thought to myself 'I could still win this - you have got to have a go'

Andy made five birdies in his last seven to take third place. The best of those was a two at the 16th, the first of a trio of strong finishing holes, a 5 iron cut in to 4ft. He played the very tough last with a drive and 7 iron to 25ft, finding the right level of a green that was difficult to hit under normal circumstances, let along in the final round of Tour School and a hole which only gave up three birdies from the 70 players in the final field trying for those 35 cards.

'I had an average of 11 fairways and 14.5 greens in reg for the six rounds', said Andy - his 32.4 putts per round are an indication of how well he struck the ball and what he could have done with a better putting week.

Andy now has around 28 European Tour events he can play in, including seven invites because of his Walker Cup success. He is heading to South Africa for the New Year, to play in the African Open.

'I've learned so much in the last three months - to be more patient - to do what's right for me.'

'My course management is much better and I've learned so much about myself - I've taken to it like a duck to water.'

Andy's eyes are now firmly on the prize of keeping his card and being as high in the Race to Dubai as he can. Because of the tournament field sizes and joint sanctioning for many events early on in the season, he won't be able to play regularly until early Spring so if you don;t spot his name in the newspaper early on, its not going to be because he's missed the cut or has been playing badly.

He has all of our best wishes for 2012 - an icon for any junior to aspire to be as good as.