The heartbeat steadied for most of the day for John Senden at Augusta National as he finally walked the grounds like he belonged.

In his fifth trip to the Masters the Queenslander walked with his chest out, flush from confidence from his recent US PGA tour win and content with his growing knowledge of the famous course.

It led to a solid even-par round of 72 for the 42-year-old, just four back of early leader Bill Haas.

“Going around the golf course I just sort of felt better about playing well here,” Senden said of his noticeable confidence.

“With the confidence I’ve had with the results this year and last year’s result here, plus just being on this course one more time, getting more experience here, that is the difference.

“Getting to know it more, I practised well yesterday and I felt good on the golf course with Scotty on Tuesday so I’ve just been enjoying myself this week and I have to continue to do that to have good results.”

Senden opened with a similar score last year, the first time he made the cut in four attempts, and made a run during round two, at one point having a putt to join the lead.

He was hopeful of making a similar run on Friday and then holding firm after falling back over the weekend in 2013 to be tied 35th.

“Even par hasn’t hurt me at all. And I still feel like I can get a round under par (tomorrow),” Senden said.

“And if I can do that, it’s right there because the weather is good, the scoring is going to be decent.

“I really cleaned up well today. I played well, solid at the beginning and I felt like I putted very well inside six feet, holed some nice putts and felt good about it.

“You can’t just sort of play 15 good holes and expect to shoot a good score but I am feeling pretty good and have confidence for tomorrow.”