MATT BLACKEY is ready to hit the European Tour running after dramatically regaining his card in San Roque.

Two birdies in his last three holes catapulted the Southampton golfer back on to next year's Tour, but as Blackey admitted afterwards: "There is still work to be done."

He came out of Tour School in a seven-way tie for the 31st place. It effectively gave him a share of the last of the 35 cards on offer and means he needs some good early season results in 2005 to give him a chance of playing in big events like the Volvo PGA Championships.

Players coming out of Tour School are re-ranked during the spring and the higher you are in the list, the better chance you have of playing in the more lucrative events.

With that in mind, 32-year-old Blackey, who lives just across the road from Stoneham Golf Club, will be playing as much as he can through December, January and February.

It all starts up for him on December 2 when the second event of the 2005 season takes place in Hong Kong.

Blackey has played golf non-stop since mid July and admits he's ready for a holiday, but he says: "I'll rest easier if I get some good early results under my belt.

"A good position in the spring re-rank will get me into the bigger tournaments and that's where the serious money is."

His near miraculous reprieve at Tour School gives him a third successive year on the European Tour, but the former Hampshire champion, who plays out of the Marriott Mean Valley Golf and Country Club, admits: "Two rounds into Tour School I was 150th and going nowhere but back to the Challenge Tour.

"I made a conscious decision there and then just to go out and play golf. I'd maybe been trying to force things beforehand and it wasn't working.

"Things turned for the better with a 68 in the third round, but I thought I'd cooked my goose with a couple of double bogeys in my final round - the second of them at the 13th where I produced my second shank of the day.

"The finishing stretch at San Roque is tough. It doesn't offer too many birdie chances but I managed to hole 40-footer for a two at the long par three 16th.

"That left me with the par five 17th which I almost reached in two and got down with a chip and a putt, but the last hole with the big water hazard is daunting when you need a par to make your card.

"It didn't help that I pulled my tee shot and then hit my second wide of the green. It left me with an awkward chip which finished up ten feet from the hole. Not good for your nerves but I gritted my teeth and although I hit the ball slightly left it went in. It's the toughest putt I've ever had to hole."

Blackey admits he's a battler by nature but he said: "I had to dig deeper than ever out there in Spain and I found something I never thought I had.

"I learned a lot about myself during the week; now I've got to put it to good use."

Blackey says his biggest problem through 2004 was that he was never in contention for a tournament win.

He proved last week that when his adrenalin's up, he can produce the shots when they count.

And psychologically, that's a massive boost going into a new season.