ON the same weekend as the North-East's top two golfers raised their profiles with breathtaking rounds at the final major of the season, another rising talent was continuing his surge towards joining them on the main European Tour.

While Graeme Storm and Simon Dyson had moments of glory at the USPGA in Tulsa, Barnard Castle's Rob Dinwiddie was pulling off his own personal heroics at the Scottish Challenge.

Having laid the foundations for his first Challenge Tour victory by breaking the course record at the Macdonald Cardrona Golf and County Club with a sublime 63, nine under, on Friday, Dinwiddie carried on his good form.

And, having finished with a stunning 20-under four-round total, he was left celebrating a leap up into eighth in the Challenge Tour rankings and a place in today's prestigious Rolex Trophy in Switzerland.

With 11 tournaments remaining in European golf's second tier, Dinwiddie is intent on playing in nine of those, although that could become eight if he is invited along to play at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 30.

The Tennessee University graduate has given himself an incredible chance of making sure he will not be around on the Challenge Tour again next season, and already has designs on joining Storm and Dyson on the main Tour.

"It is the top 20 places in the rankings that qualify for a place on the European Tour but I want to be in the top ten," said Dinwiddie, reflecting on the fact that if he achieves his aim he will start in a higher category to those who progress through Qualifying School.

"At the moment I have made just 55,000euros and I would like to think that if I can get up to around 75,000euros then I will have earned enough to have made the top ten. Ten thousand euros short of that should get me on the European Tour anyway."

Dinwiddie, a former Walker Cup player who has previously held the Welsh and Scottish amateur titles, has always been confident in his ability, suggesting he can make his mark in the upper echelons of the game.

Having spent a large part of his amateur days stationed in the States studying, Dinwiddie took the gamble last year to make the step up to the professional game.

And, having adapted to life quickly on the Challenge Tour, the 24-year-old feels the early stages of his career have gone to plan.

"I am really happy and satisfied," said the highest-placed Englishman on the Challenge Tour rankings.

"Just to have earned a place on the Rolex Trophy is a sign of my development."

The 200,000euros Rolex event, starting this morning, is a unique event on the Challenge Tour where an elite field of 39 compete in a Pro-Am format. The field is cut to the top 18, and ties, after the first three rounds. Even those who miss the cut are guaranteed vital earnings.