NICK Flanagan was almost done with professional golf.
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But burning inside was a competitive spirit and belief that he still had the game to compete with the best.
It burns even stronger now.
On Sunday, the 35-year-old Novocastrian went stroke for stroke with Adam Scott at the Australian PGA Championships on the Gold Coast.
Flanagan moved into a share of the lead during a tense final round at Royal Pines but a double bogey at the 13th hole halted his charge. He rebounded to finish in a tie for third - robbed off second place by a putt that slipped across the edge.
"I felt like I pushed him to the end, the same way [playing partner] Wade Ormsby did," Flanagan said. "I'm not often proud of myself, but I was pretty proud of myself for doing that against one of the best players we have ever produced. He had some really nice things to say to me after the round.
"Just when I think I am almost out of it. It keeps pulling me back in."
Flanagan jetted out to San Antonio on Monday where his heavily pregnant wife Corrine is due to give birth on January 11.
"Obviously with the baby on the way, this is huge for us," Flanagan said. "It's been a tough few months. I thought I was going to do well there in Europe, at European Q School. Sunday was my best ever finish in a European Tour event. My wife and I really need it, so it's pretty good,."
Fanagan's golf clubs will stay in the bag for the next three weeks. It might have been a lot longer if not for his revival on the Gold Coast.
"I have been looking in other directions as far as what to do in the future ... a (PGA Professional) bridging course ... things like that.
"Once I got in contention, I guess the competitive nature I still have came out and I knuckled down. It felt like I belonged out there on Sunday and it felt like I had them on the ropes for two-thirds of the round."
The top three finish moved the 2003 US Amateur champion to No.11 on the Australasian PGA order of merit, but he doesn't have playing status anywhere else.
"The result gets me into the South African Open, but that is the same week as the baby is due," he said. "I will skip that and the Vic Open will be the next one, which is also a European Tour event.
"The older you get the tougher it gets mentally. It's still there though. That is nice to know.
"Adam Scott was saying yesterday, it is really hard to win golf tournaments these days because everyone is getting so much better. You need to have things go your way and you have to play really well.
"Maybe the success (2003 US amateur and three win on the US second tier) early in my career, when I did win a bunch of times, made we think it was a little easier than it actually is to win golf tournaments."
The next step is to is earn a playing card outside of Australia to ensure there are more performances like the PGA.
"I have had good results sporadically over the past two years," Flanagan said. "I have had three top-10s in European Tour events and a bunch of other decent finishes. But not being able to play consistently on a tour is a bit of a battle.
"When you are only playing one event every couple of months it is extra pressure you don't have when you can three or four weeks in a row and know if you don't have it one week, there is still next week. It is a lot easier to play golf like that. Maybe that's why when I come back to these Aussie events and I have a bit of a stretch, I catch fire on one or two of them."
