CONFIDENCE gained from leading at The Open last month has boosted Eddie Pepperell’s hopes of featuring high on the leaderboards at the US PGA Championship.

The Abingdon golfer will begin his second Major in four weeks at 7.40pm (BST) today.

Pepperell opted to recharge his batteries in Oxfordshire during the build-up, so has not played since an eventful Open debut.

Although he finished in a share of 49th place, the 24-year-old shot to prominence when he briefly led at St Andrews on the way to a six-under-par third round of 66.

After getting to the top in such an elite field, Pepperell is relishing the prospect of repeating the feat at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.

He said: “I’m not going there with any real expectations, but I know my game feels good in practice.

“If I keep it in good shape I have the confidence from leading at St Andrews and there’s no reason I can’t do that in the PGA.

“It’s against the same players and I believe I have the potential to be a world-class player.”

Although the course is very different to Merion, where Pepperell made his Major debut in the 2013 US Open, the experience provided a useful pointer on where to focus.

He said: “Normally when I go to the US the greens are quite fast.

“That’s the part of the game which I’m expecting to be challenging, but I’m a much better putter than I was two years ago.”