Hennie Otto was beaming after his maiden European Tour victory at the Italian Open opened the door to the greatly improved life that is on offer to tournament winners, writes Douglas Lowe.

The exemption of two years plus the remainder of this year spells an end to the stop-start life and uncertainty for his wife Liezel and three-year-old son Hendrick that his previous lowly ranking offered. He did not even know he was playing last week at Tolcinasco Castle, near Milan, until a week ago.

"It's a big weight off my shoulders. I'll be able to play in more and bigger tournaments now," said 31-year-old Otto, whose next outing will be the tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week.

"I can also plan to play three or four tournaments in a row and I can bring the family with me and not one tournament, back home and so on."

Scottish fans will have two chances to see him in action as he confirmed that the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles were very much in his plans.

Otto, who was a rugby scrum-half before opting to pursue a golfing career, said: "I chose golf over rugby - the two don't really mix."

He has won seven times on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa in a career blighted by back problems.

Otto has a fiery temper which has landed him in hot water before. In the 2001 South African Masters, Otto was spoken to by tournament officials after he responded to an 80 in the second round by breaking all his clubs and throwing the lot into a water hazard.

His victory and £221,000 prize that has lifted him to No.14 on the European Tour order of merit might mellow further the player somewhat.

He'll be back this year at Royal Birkdale having already come through international final qualifying in South Africa.