Oliver Wilson says his latest second-placed finish on the European Tour on Sunday is tough to take.
Wilson lost out to Miguel Angel Jimenez in the PGA Championship at Wentworth on the second hole of a tense play-off.
It is the seventh time the Mansfield star has come agonisingly close to claiming a first Tour win.
And although he has booked his place in next month's US Open - his first trip to a major - Wilson said: "It hurts. I felt like that was the one."
Wilson missed a 12-foot putt on the first extra hole that would have sealed victory. And he also knows that a wayward drive on 17 which cost him a shot just when he had taken the outright lead with only two holes to play was equally expensive.
"I had my chances and didn't take them," he said. "And, in a tournament like this, you have to take them.
"I wanted to start contending in these and I have but maybe I need to stop contending and start winning"Wilson recognised his achievement but, although excited about a trip to California next month to play at Torrey Pines, he is desperate to claim a first Tour victory.
Four of those runners-up spots (at the South African Airways Open, the China Open, the Italian Open and at Wentworth on Sunday) have come on this season's European Tour. And, although it has lifted him high on the Order of Merit (to where else but second!), he is overdue to take that extra step.
"It's a great result again," he said. "I wanted to start contending in these and I have but maybe I need to stop contending and start winning.
"It hurts. I had the chance in the first play-off hole and I can't believe it didn't go in.
"But it's all experience - so everyone keeps telling me."
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