Martin Kaymer may have made five birdies on day one of the US PGA Championship but the German is hopeful that two closing pars can catapult him into a strong position over the weekend at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Kaymer made gains on the 15th, 17th, 18th, first and third as he got to four under on Thursday to sit just a shot behind first round leader Jimmy Walker.
With increased winds and light rain arriving later in the day, Kaymer was made to battle to six straight closing pars, including a pair of brilliant up-and downs on the eighth and ninth.
The 2010 champion's bunker shot on his penultimate hole may have been the shot of the day and he was delighted to take the confidence from that into his earlier start on day two.
"The last five, six holes I had a massive up-and-down on five which is a tricky hole," he said. "Today when we played it, it was wind left-to-right and it's not a long hole but it was a little bit awkward to hit that fairway and I missed it. I made maybe a 15-18-footer for par. That was a huge, huge par today.
"And I made a great up-and-down on eight, had a bunker shot from 40-45 yards, and I hit it to two or three feet and then made a nice up-and-down on nine.
That was really important in terms of thinking about tomorrow already because I'm going to play in a few hours. It was a good momentum-keeper - Martin Kaymer
Kaymer has four top tens in his last seven starts on the European Tour but has not won since his triumph at the 2014 US Open. The 31 year old is not worried about his mini drought, however, and is happy to take the rough with the smooth.
"I always go through some really nice highs," he said. "And then for some people there are very bad lows. For me they are fine because I know why they come and I'm not too worried about it."
Open champion Henrik Stenson sat a shot behind Kaymer after a 67 that took him to 27 under for his last seven rounds in Major Championships. His last round was that remarkable Championship-clinching 63 at Royal Troon and the Swede was happy to be able to maintain momentum.
My confidence level is pretty good but it can always be better - Henrik Stenson
"I feel like I'm pretty clear on what I need to do with my game, with my swing and everything. Then the challenge this week was to be back in there mentally and focused.
"On one or two occasions I think I slipped and I probably paid the price. On that three-footer I missed on nine because I wasn't as decisive as I need to be.
"But I think the most important thing is what you do afterwards and I felt like I gave myself a little kick in the butt after missing that one and I was better committing on my lines than my strokes from there on."
