Lloyd Saltman is confident he can keep up with his neighbour

LLOYD Saltman now has Richie Ramsay as a near neighbour and is determined he won't have to wait long before they are both leaving their East Lothian homes to play on the European Tour.

While Ramsay, the South African Open champion, has left his former Scotland team-mate behind since they joined the professional ranks, Saltman remains confident he too can climb to the top of the ladder.

Speaking on the day that Aegon, the Edinburgh-based assurance and pensions company, announced it was continuing to support Lloyd and his two brothers, Elliot and Zack, until 2012, he said: "Richie's win in South Africa was great for him and Scottish golf too.

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"It has also given me confidence because Richie and I competed a lot together as amateurs – we played foursomes for both Scotland and Great Britain & Ireland – and I feel I'm not too far away from being a winner on Tour myself.

"Richie has said that he feels I can join him on the main European circuit and that sort of thing is great to hear as he knows my game. However, I'm not going to try and force anything and push too hard. I feel I'm going about things the right way and the one thing I am determined to do is stay patient."

Aberdonian Ramsay has decided to buy a house near Edinburgh to cut down on the travelling as he bids to build on his breakthrough win just before Christmas.

"He's living just across the road from me and, before he headed off to play in the Desert events, I was over at his flat helping him with something he'd bought out of Ikea," added Saltman, who is itching to get his 2010 Challenge Tour campaign underway.

At the moment, he's only ninth reserve for the opening event on the schedule, in Colombia, later this month and is probably going to have to wait another four weeks to get up and running in Kenya. "I was actually quite shocked to see how far down the list I was for Colombia but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I might still get in there," said the 24-year-old. "I've been playing well on the Hi5 Tour in Spain and have also been doing some good work with Colin Brooks (his coach] so overall I'm really happy."

Elliot, 27, and Zack, 21, will be playing mainly on the PGA EuroPro Tour again this year and the trio are delighted that 'Team Saltman' has received renewed support from Aegon.

"Without this support, none of us would be able to do what we are doing," said Lloyd. "They obviously have faith in our ability and all three of us are confident we can repay that faith." All three siblings impressed Aegon chiefs with the way they handled themselves when Lloyd and Elliot played in last year's Open at Turnberry, while they have also represented the company at a number of non-golfing events in and around Edinburgh. "We were all brought up in a certain way and it is nice if that is paying off for us now," remarked Lloyd.