Jason Day is taking heart from the way he overcame a rough start at the Masters.
A runner-up two years ago, 25-year-old Day put himself well in the hunt with an opening round two-under-par 70 to be tied 13th, four back of countryman Marc Leishman and Spanish star Sergio Garcia who shared the lead.
But things looked ominous early.
Day bogeyed the opening hole after hitting a nervous tee shot into the bunker and an even more uncharacteristic stinker into the trees from there.
On the second he hooked the ball into a creek but was able to punch out sideways and save par from a greenside bunker.
A nice birdie on the third followed but when he missed the green long on the fourth into one of the famous Masters death trap positions it looked ugly.
Faced with a near impossible short-sided chip, Day could only wince as his ball rolled out to 25 feet but he held his nerve and made the return par putt.
On the par three sixth, Day went long again and, faced a similar down-sloping green, stubbed his chip short, then stubbed his first putt and walked off with a double bogey to be two-over.
“I was just a little nervous at the start and started off a little average,” Day said.
“I just said to myself, if I can go at the remaining par fives, that gets me to one-under and if I can maybe sneak one or two more coming in and it would be a pretty good score.”
He did exactly that, grabbing a birdie at the eighth, stealing another at the ninth, before rattling off three on the trot on 13, 14 and 15 before a bogey at the last.
“I really enjoyed playing the back nine,” said Day. “I’ve just got to tighten up a few little just soft bogeys out there.”
Fellow Aussie John Senden also carded six birdies but added six bogeys in an even-par 70.
Looking to make his first cut in four tries at Augusta the round was a missed opportunity but kept him on track to play at the weekend.
“This morning there was not much breeze and the greens were softer than usual. I think it was gettable. I can see why there are good scores on the leaderboard,” Senden said.
“I’m actually striking the ball quite nicely again – I just need to tidy up a couple of areas to get my iron shots more consistent (and) right in there on the pins.”