Top marks have boosted Khan

Last updated: 18th December 2009

Winning the European Tour qualifying school was not quite what Simon Khan had in mind for this year, but now the 37-year-old from Essex is determined to build on his victory.

After a week at home recovering from the six-round marathon in Spain, Khan was back in action today in the South African Open at Pearl Valley.

It took him eight attempts to make it onto the circuit in the first place but six top-10 finishes in 2003 showed he was not out of his depth and the following year he beat Paul Casey in a play-off for the Wales Open.

Khan earned more than £500,000 that season and nearly £650,000 in 2006 after finishing runner-up to David Howell in the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

He has failed to hit such heights since then, however, and dropping to 127th on last season's money list forced him back to the school.

Khan finished top of the class, and said: "At the start of the week the aim was to finish in the top five, so I've exceeded my expectations, which feels good.

"But I know the hard work starts here. I've got to forget about this but obviously I'll take a lot of confidence from it. Hopefully there's more to come."

He will certainly take heart from what Spaniard Pablo Martin achieved last week.

The 23-year-old only narrowly avoided the school himself but in the first event of the new campaign won the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Martin is also playing this week, as is runner-up Charl Schwartzel and third-placed Anders Hansen.

The Dane now hopes to become the first northern hemisphere player to win the South African Order of Merit. He had a lead of almost £100,000 over Schwartzel entering the final event.