Martin Kaymer believes a more relaxed mindset is helping him find his best form at the US PGA Championship.
The 2010 champion battled back from two early bogeys and a 40-minute rain delay to post a second round 69 and sit at five under heading into the weekend at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Kaymer was two over for his round with just three holes to play but made birdies on the 15th, 16th and last to put him in an excellent position and continue his impressive form of recent months.
The German has not won since the 2014 US Open but has four top tens in his last seven European Tour events and believes a more laid-back attitude is helping him rediscover the form that propelled him to World Number One.
"I'm a little bit more patient," he said. "I don't force the putts or I don't get that frustrated if I don't make the birdie putts because I played really well the last two, three months.
"I couldn't really make the putts and it was quite frustrating that you always think, 'It should have been a lower score, I should have shot this and that'. No one cares about that. At the end of the day, I shouldn't care about it either.
"You can do your best and I just kept telling myself, 'You are trying your very, very best'. That is in the end all I can do. Trying your very best in a calm way, without forcing, that is pretty much the way you have got to play golf. That's the way I play my best."
The 31 year old's two Major Championship wins are his only top tens in the last 24 Majors and he is confident he can get over the line again if he can put himself in position on Sunday.
"You would like to win all four Majors but at the end of the day if you can keep collecting experiences in Major Championships, just putting yourself in position to have a chance to win I think you would gain a lot of experience.
Those are situations that you can't really plan or practice. Winning one of those, I know how much satisfaction it gives you. It's massive. That's the ultimate that we play for - Martin Kaymer
Patrick Reed was alongside Kaymer at five under after an excellent 65 and the American does not believe he is far from getting into a position to claim his first European Tour win since the 2014 WGC - Cadillac Championship.
"It just seems like every week and every day, there's always one aspect that's missing," he said. "Yesterday, I was hitting my irons great, was putting pretty well, but I couldn't keep a driver on the planet.
"So I switched my driver to my old driver and went in today, hit the driver better. I missed a couple short putts I felt like I should have made.
"The difference between a top ten and a win out on Tour is, you hit fairways, you hit greens and those 50/50 putts, you're always on the right side of them. I think yesterday, I was definitely on the right side of the 50/50 putts and today I probably broke even.
"So far, we're moving in the right direction. We just need to keep on grinding."
