Rory McIlroy is targeting a place in the 2010 European Ryder Cup team and he caught the attention of captain Colin Montgomerie with his winning performance at the Dubai Desert Classic.
McIlroy has jumped almost 1,300 places in the world rankings since the end of 2006 and his victory in Dubai has seen him rise to number 16, the highest ranked Irish player behind Padraig Harrington.
Qualifying for the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor does not begin until the European Masters in September, but McIlroy is confident he is in with a good chance of making his debut in Wales.
"The campaign has not started yet. It starts in Switzerland again, a place I like going to, and I just have to keep improving and playing golf and just put myself in a position to win," McIlroy said.
"If I'm able to do that more weeks than not then I'll obviously have a good chance of getting on the team."
Montgomerie nominated McIlroy as a potential Ryder Cup player when he was appointed the captain last week and he was fulsome in his praise for the teenager following his performance in Dubai.
"We have a superstar here in the making in Rory, and when you think of guys like Alvaro Quiros and also Martin Kaymer, we have some fantastic talent coming through in Europe," Montgomerie said. "Right now Rory is at the head of that group.
"For someone to be 19-under-par is good anytime, but especially a course of this difficulty or this magnitude and he is doing fantastically well at 19 years of age."