Eddie Pepperell is aiming for a confidence-boosting week at the Hero Indian Open after opening with a three under par 69 at DLF Golf and Country Club.
The Englishman lost his card last season after making just one weekend after July but dusted himself off to take the eighth card at the Qualifying School in November and reclaim his playing privileges.
He has started the 2017 campaign with four missed cuts but a 69 on Thursday equalled his best effort so far and was quite an achievement on an extremely challenging layout hosting its first men's international tournament.
A birdie-birdie finish put some gloss on his round after bogeys on the 14th and 15th and the 26 year old is hopeful of carrying that momentum into the rest of the week as he looks to kick-start his season.
"I holed a good putt on the 17th for birdie from 20 feet," he said. "After making a couple of bogeys on the previous three holes that was important to get myself back to two under.
"Then actually I hit a good tee-shot off the last. It was quite a tough tee-shot off the last, I hit a three wood and batted it straight down the fairway. Those back-to-back shots gave me a lot of confidence.
"You know, my confidence has been a little low this year, I haven't been playing as well as I know I can. Actually, I've done nothing well. So to go out there today and putt better and hit the ball better generally was uplifting."
The Gary Player designed layout is providing a stern test for the entire field this week and Pepperell admits he will have to be mentally strong to stay at the right end of the leaderboard.
"That's the most stressful three under par I think I've ever shot," he said. "Not because I played badly. I played really, really well.
I've done nothing well. So to go out there today and putt better and hit the ball better generally was uplifting - Eddie Pepperell
"I hadn't seen the golf course before today and literally every shot, something can go wrong. It's an amazing golf course.
"It's literally a shot-by-shot golf course, you don't want to get ahead of yourself or start thinking about anything other than picking a specific target out there and committing to it. You can't afford not to.
"It's going to be a long week mentally more than anything. It's quite a walk and mentally it will be very draining to stay up there, if you're up there the whole week in contention. You've really got to take some pressure off yourself.
"It's the kind of golf course that can almost take the fear out of it. There is trouble both sides and you can never guard against the miss.
"You just need to hit good golf shots and that can sometimes actually work really well for me and for all of us golfers, I would say. I need to react to that, relax, keep doing what I've been doing and keep it as simple as I can."
