Eddie Pepperell has followed his stellar performance at Wentworth by qualifying for next month’s US Open.

The 22-year-old enjoyed the best tournament of his career with a tie for sixth place at the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday.

Then yesterday, the Frilford Heath young gun shot a pair of two-under-par rounds of 70 at Walton Heath to claim one of the 12 qualifying spots available for the US Open at Merion, Pennsylvania from June 13-16.

It’s a sensational rise for the European Tour rookie, who, after finishing joint fourth, tweeted: “My week’s got a little bit better.”

Pepperell’s display at Wentworth impressed an all-time golfing great, but the youngster has no intention of getting distracted by the limelight.

Competing near the top of the leaderboard in the Tour’s flagship event netted prize-money of £121,125 – four times the Abingdon golfer’s previous best and saw his world ranking climb nearly 100 places to 234.

As well as fortune, it also brought fame.

Pepperell admits it was a surreal four days, none more so than when he checked his Twitter account after the final round.

He found a message from nine-time major champion Gary Player, which read: “@eddie-pepperell @European_Tour Eddie, very well played. Most impressive. All my best for your future. Gary”.

Pepperell said: “It was amazing to see that come up, it was a real ‘wow’ moment.

“I’m not one of those people to drool over things like that, but when Gary Player tweets you to say he’s been watching and is impressed that’s pretty incredible – he’s an absolute legend.”

A level-headed approach and outstanding work ethic have been key to the Frilford Heath player’s rise to prominence.

It meant only a couple of hours after finishing at Wentworth, Pepperell was re-focusing on how to build on the success.

He said: “I have seen how people’s profiles have gone up with one good week and then don’t live up to the hype.

“I’m not interested in the hype, we have seen where it actually matters, it’s how you play and that’s up to me now.

“It’s great people know my name, but ultimately I still want to do better.”

The prize-money means Pepperell is virtually assured of retaining his European Tour card for next season, a huge achievement so early in his debut season.

He’s also moved up to 60th in the money rankings.

That gives him a realistic chance of making the lucrative season finale in Dubai, which is only open to the top 60 earners.

But after playing 13 events in nine countries, he will decide today whether to pull out of this week’s event in Sweden.