Casandra Alexander bumped headfirst into the reality check that hope and expectation bring on Sunday in a major championship when she signed off for the Amundi Evian Championship with a two-over-par 73.

With hopes cultivated by three great rounds to start with, and expectation bred by an eagle finish to her maiden Ladies European Tour victory just last month, she would have felt both those emotions rise on the back of a birdie on the par-three second of Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.

But the necessity to keep your head while all around are losing theirs struck home with a vengeance for the remainder of the front nine as she made a bogey on the third, and then two more on the fifth and eighth.

That the bogey on eight came on a par-three – she had made six birdies on the par-threes up till that point – would have been confounding to her. And she, once again, was unable to take advantage of the par-fives, where her length off the tee should have given better returns.

From being in a share of the lead after that early birdie, she was now battling to feed her hopes and expectations. That’s major championship pressure. That’s what has to be managed as nerves jangle and swings tighten on the way to the back nine on a major championship Sunday.

To be fair, she did well on the back nine as she made just one more bogey – on a par-three! – and picked up a shot on the closing par-five. But those six holes from the third to the eighth are going to be the ones from which she must take lessons ahead of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales on July 31.

One of those lessons was perhaps best articulated by the eventual winner, Grace Kim of Australia. After she made a double-bogey on the 12th, she cast care aside: “I said to myself and to my caddie, I’ve got nothing else to lose.” And the result was there for all to see with the wondrous approach to 18 which set up the eagle to force the play-off with Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand. It was there in the chip-in birdie after finding water in the first extra hole. And it was there in the seemingly nerveless eagle putt to sink Thitikul’s chances of at last winning her first major championship.

Alexander’s year so far has been about as good as it gets, so she should not despair. A top-20 in a major championship is a good return, especially coming from a player who has only just begun to show her paces on the LET – which is perhaps not as challenging as the LPGA Tour.

She knows what she has in Europe: “I think our tour is definitely come into better golfers and you have to play better in order to make it and things like that,” she said. “You know, before, couple years ago when we had a few events, I think the tour was slowly going down. Then it’s picked up a lot now. We have a lot of solid players. Like average golf on the LET is not good enough anymore.”

Alexander is above average, and she will be better from her brush with major championship pressure.