Yorkshire golf: Woodsome Hall's Chris Hanson hoping Italian job will take care of business

His third top-10 finish of his maiden season on Tour, at the KLM Open on Sunday, lifted him into the top 100 on the Race to Dubai (Order of Merit).

The top 110 at the end of the season retain their playing privileges for the following year and Hanson - with €216,974 in winnings so far - estimates he is one decent pay cheque away from achieving that goal.

He travelled to Milan in the early hours of Tuesday knowing that, but for a bogey at the 16th hole in his final round at The Dutch in Spijk, he might already be safely above 'the bubble'.

It cost the Huddersfield player around €18,000, but he rightly prefers to focus on the fact that his game is in good shape following a spell of illness, involving both tonsillitis and bronchitis.

"It's hard not to talk about it [retaining his card], but it is not something I try to think about each day," said the 31-year-old.

"I just play and see what happens. I will play the next two [the Italian and European Opens], but then the three after that, it is just a waiting game.

"It would be nice to maybe get an invite into one of the last three, but that is out of my control. I will play the next two weeks and see where we are at after those."

Hanson has made 15 out of 18 cuts this season - one of those three, in the Australian PGA, only missed by one shot after a quick dash to the other side of the world immediately after winning his card at last November's Qualifying School.

His confidence is growing with every tournament, as, thankfully, is his health.

"I had about six weeks with illness and really, over that time, I was never feeling 100 per cent," he recalled.

"I had tonsillitis in Scotland and then some bronchitis two weeks before Thailand. I was struggling to do more than an hour's practice a day.

"Going to Thailand with the time difference and the illness made it a tough week. I did not miss the cut by much, but I was nowhere near a good place health-wise.

"Then I had a few weeks off again and finally got on some antibiotics and it near enough shifted it by Prague.

"I am still coughing and spluttering at times, but I don't feel weak any more, which is what the problem was."

With an improvement in health came an improvement in scores and after placing 18th in the Made in Denmark event, Hanson tied eighth in the KLM Open.

In the latter, his calm temperament proved as useful as a 15th club, allowing him to overcome a mid-round wobble on day two.

A triple bogey seven at the seventh was followed by another dropped shot at eight.

He had opened with a five-under-par 66, but within the space of two holes had dropped back to just one under.

Hanson's response was superb, five birdies and just one bogey in the next 10 holes giving him a level-par 71.

Over the weekend he added scores of 67 and 69, his second successive tournament in which he had carded three rounds in the 60s.

"I do it quite well really, coming back from bad holes," said Hanson, adding, "although I do it far too often - putting myself under the gun with a bad hole.

"That seven was another occasion although I did not play it particularly badly. I had just one hole that compounded into a big error, but it seemed to make me knuckle down .

"I ended up finishing quite well, which obviously kept me in the tournament, and I would not have finished anywhere near as high up as I did if it wasn't for holding it together on that back nine on Friday.

"There have been times when I don't deal with that type of thing well, but I've always had a pretty decent mindset, a decent mentality, and I do not let things affect me too much.

"I've never really lost my temper. Obviously people who do that, it sometimes leaks onto the next shot, but for me my attitude has always been quite good."

On Sunday, he rose as high as tied fourth at one point although he never felt that he was in contention for a title eventually won by home favourite Joost Luiten.

"I don't think I ever thought that I was going to challenge to win," he said, "because I was playing with Bernd Wiesberger who, at the time, he was up there.

"But he was three or four ahead of me at one point so it always felt a little bit too much when the holes were starting to slip away.

"I did not play particularly well on the front nine, I was driving it a little bit erratically, but I made some good saves and I played real nice down the back nine.

"I missed a couple of good birdie chances on 13 and 14, but that is just part of it. You just have to keep giving yourself chances and one day you will make more then you don't.

"I might have kept my card if I was one shot better, I think."

As well as banking his seventh five-figure cheque this season, he also bumped up his credit in the columns marked 'tournament nous' and 'Tour experience'.

"I have felt at home a lot of the year, really, but obviously each week - if you get yourself into positions like this - it just improves that feeling," he said.

"It makes you feel more and more at home every week. You start to play with guys who are higher up the rankings and competing with them and not feeling any different to them."

The Italian Open this week has a prize fund of €3m and Hanson - and all his home-town support in Huddersfield - will be willing him to another high finish that will almost certainly assure him of an automatic place on the 2017 European Tour.