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Johannesburg - Ernie Els says his second-place finish at the Indonesian Masters, an Asian Tour event, on Sunday, is just the confidence booster he needs.
The Big Easy posted rounds of 68, 70, 68 and 68 for a 14-under 274 total, one stoke adrift of Austrian winner Bernd Wiesberger.
"A win would have been fantastic, but second place is not that bad, either," Els said on his website.
"This performance has helped boost my confidence and it shows me I'm going in the right direction.
"I'm starting to feel really good about my game now."
Els began his final round slowly and was one over for the day standing on the sixth tee.
The reigning Open Champion, though, put together a strong comeback with birdies on six and nine, before an eagle at the par-five 12th and a birdie at the par-five 18th in his attempt to catch Wiesberger.
Despite a trio of 68s to his name, including the final round, Els believed he could have scored better on day four.
"Unfortunately I wasn't quite at my best on Sunday, especially in those first four or five holes where I was really slow to get going, but my attitude was good.
"I played hard and fought hard and at the end I had a sniff of a chance to get into a playoff."
Els, however, gave credit to the performance of Wiesberger.
"Hats off to Bernd Wiesberger. I played with him the first two rounds and again in the final round and I think he played better than all of us. Congratulations to him, he deserved this win."
The four-time Major champion felt it was his duty to help spread the game around the globe.
"As Open champion I like to play around the world and coming to Asia was a good call for me."
