Marco Penge revealed the emotions he went through as he birdied the last to make the weekend on the cutline at the Genesis Championship.
The Englishman is among the players on the bubble in their bid to keep their DP World Tour playing privileges for next year and looked to be in control of his future when a hat-trick of birdies from the ninth saw him climb to three under par.
However, his tee-off at the 12th went out of bounds, which resulted in a double bogey to slip back to one under.
He bounced back with a birdie at the 14th, but bogeys at the 15th and 17th meant he slipped below the cutline at level par.
The top 114 on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex after Sunday's final round will earn their card for next season and with Penge starting the week in 115th spot, it meant he needed to birdie the par-five last to boost his chances.
After playing over the back of the green with his second, he held his nerve to chip to within four feet and hole the putt to extend his week.
"At the moment, I feel a little bit shaky and feel a bit sick with nerves and stuff," Penge admitted.
"I played pretty well. I kind of got it going around the turn, three under for the tournament, and I thought 'try and push on, try and push on'.
"I didn't feel great with driver all day so I tried to hit a stinger to try and keep it in play, and even my shot to keep it in play I hit it out of bounds so that put a spanner in the works and it was a battle all the way in those last six holes.
"I knew we had 18 and that if I could get a drive away, I'd back myself to make a birdie down there.
"It's a day of mixed emotions, I think the situation made things tough. I want to get to Abu Dhabi, but the elephant in the room is that I need to make the weekend to give myself a chance of keeping my card.
"It's a really weird situation. I've been hovering around the 114-115 mark for the last five-six weeks and you try to tell yourself to look forward to get to Abu Dhabi, to try and win golf tournaments, but you can't help but think about keeping your card.
"This is my first [season] on the Tour this year and I've loved every moment of it. I've made some really close friends out here, times off the golf course I've loved it.
"I don't want to be anywhere else but here, so I've probably put a lot of pressure on myself to deliver what I need to do, but the whole situation itself isn't a nice one to be in. I appreciate being here and be able to experience these memories.
"I'm playing well enough to move up the board and try and get as far up as I can. I know I probably need a top three to get to Abu Dhabi, so obviously that's my goal."
