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Vilamoura - Briton Ross Fisher fired a six-under 65 in the first round of the Portugal Masters on Thursday and promptly set his sights on qualifying for another Ryder Cup team after missing out on this year's event.
The 31-year-old Englishman, who took a joint one-shot lead in Vilamoura with Scotland's Stephen Gallacher on Thursday, helped Europe win at Celtic Manor in 2010 but was reduced to being a spectator for last month's miraculous comeback win at Medinah.
Despite watching Europe reel in a four-point deficit to beat America 14-1/2 - 13-1/2 from his sofa, he said the team's unexpected success had been a huge moment for him.
"If that doesn't inspire me and all of these other guys to get in the Ryder Cup then you shouldn't be playing the game of golf," Fisher told the European Tour's website (www.europeantour.com).
Fisher said he was more nervous watching than he was while making his debut at the biennial team event two years ago.
"I've experienced it in Wales and it's something that I think - Rory (McIlroy) said it once - you've played in one, you never want to miss another one," Fisher said of his twice-major winning former team mate, now the world number one.
"So that did spur me on to get out and work hard. I think 17th in the world was my best, I'm not there now but I'm working hard and I'm improving, so one step at a time and we'll be back hopefully soon enough."
Fisher, currently ranked 140, has not won for over two years before he secured a berth on Colin Montgomerie's 2010 team in Wales and scored two points from four in Europe's nail-biting one-point triumph.
Europe's captain in Chicago, Jose Maria Olazabal, played with two of his winning team members in Martin Kaymer (69) and Francesco Molinari (71) but struggled to a 75.
Scores from the European Tour Portuguese Masters at the par-71 course on Thursday in Vilamoura:
65 Ross Fisher (Britain) 65
Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 65 66 George Murray (Britain) 66 67 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden) 67
Christian Nilsson (Sweden) 67
Shane Lowry (Ireland) 67
Jbe' Kruger (South Africa) 67
Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 67 68 Anthony Wall (Britain) 68
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 68
Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 68
Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 68
Danny Denison (Britain) 68
Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 68
Joakim Lagergren (Sweden) 68 69 Gregory Bourdy (France) 69
Thomas Levet (France) 69
Tom Lewis (Britain) 69
Martin Kaymer (Germany) 69
Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 69
George Coetzee (South Africa) 69
Andrea Pavan (Italy) 69
Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 69
Gareth Maybin (Britain) 69
Marc Warren (Britain) 69
Keith Horne (South Africa) 69
Carlos Del Moral (Spain) 69
Markus Brier (Austria) 69
Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 69
Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 69
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 69
Lee Slattery (Britain) 69 70 Martin Wiegele (Austria) 70
Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 70
Matthew Zions (Australia) 70
Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 70
Hennie Otto (South Africa) 70
Darren Clarke (Britain) 70
Alexander Noren (Sweden) 70
James Kingston (South Africa) 70
Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 70
Richard Green (Australia) 70
Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 70
Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 70
Peter Whiteford (Britain) 70
Pedro Figueiredo (Portugal) 70
Federico Colombo (Italy) 70
Damien McGrane (Ireland) 70
Ricardo Melo Gouveia (Portugal) 70
Michael Hoey (Britain) 70
Danny Willett (Britain) 70
Rich Beem (U.S.) 70
Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 70
Richard Finch (Britain) 70
Richard Bland (Britain) 70
Kristoffer Broberg (Sweden) 70 71 Mark Foster (Britain) 71
Francesco Molinari (Italy) 71
Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 71
Matteo Manassero (Italy) 71
Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 71
Jamie Elson (Britain) 71
Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 71
Kenneth Ferrie (Britain) 71
Scott Jamieson (Britain) 71
Anders Hansen (Denmark) 71
Steve Webster (Britain) 71 72 Rhys Davies (Britain) 72
Andy Sullivan (Britain) 72
David Howell (Britain) 72
Hugo Santos (Portugal) 72
Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 72
Gary Orr (Britain) 72
Lorenzo Gagli (Italy) 72
Simon Dyson (Britain) 72
Simon Khan (Britain) 72
Raphael Jacquelin (France) 72
Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 72
Ricardo Santos (Portugal) 72
Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 72
Bradley Dredge (Britain) 72
David Lynn (Britain) 72
Robert Coles (Britain) 72
Marcel Siem (Germany) 72
Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 72
Andrew Dodt (Australia) 72
Sam Little (Britain) 72
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 72
Jamie Moul (Britain) 72
David Drysdale (Britain) 72 73 Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 73
Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 73
Johan Edfors (Sweden) 73
James Morrison (Britain) 73
Oscar Floren (Sweden) 73
Nuno Henriques (Portugal) 73
Richard Sterne (South Africa) 73
Estanislao Goya (Argentina) 73
Matthew Baldwin (Britain) 73
Robert Rock (Britain) 73
Gary Boyd (Britain) 73
Craig Lee (Britain) 73
Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 73
Tommy Fleetwood (Britain) 73
Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 73
Graeme Storm (Britain) 73 74 Shaun Micheel (U.S.) 74
Pablo Martin (Spain) 74
Richard McEvoy (Britain) 74
Antonio Rosado (Portugal) 74
Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 74
Michael Jonzon (Sweden) 74
Jorge Campillo (Spain) 74 75 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 75
Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 75
Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 75
Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 75
David Horsey (Britain) 75
Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 75
Paul Waring (Britain) 75
Benjamin Hebert (France) 75 76 Simon Thornton (Ireland) 76
Julien Quesne (France) 76
Gregory Havret (France) 76
Tjaart Van der Walt (South Africa) 76 77 Phillip Price (Britain) 77
Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) 77
Joel Sjoeholm (Sweden) 77 78 Tiago Cruz (Portugal) 78 79 Richard Johnson (Sweden) 79
Andrew Marshall (Britain) 79 WDW Victor Dubuisson (France)
