England's Danny Willett believes he now has the correct mindset to elevate his game to the next level.
The 27 year old shot a six under par 66 in testing afternoon conditions to earn a share of second place in the first round of The Open at St Andrews as the leading Englishman.
Having started his season with victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Willett continued to impress with a third place finish in the WGC-Cadillac Match Play and coming 38th on debut at the Masters to leave himself second on The Race to Dubai.
However, the World Number 39 feels that missed cuts in the US Open and Alstom Open de France were not a true reflection of where his game is at.
"Since the US Open and French Open I have played good golf," he said.
"It's the more you play with the guys, the more you realise that they don't do things a great deal better than you, if not at all.
"The more and more you're in and around this atmosphere and in and around this kind of golf the more you realise 'Actually, yeah, I'm pretty equipped to do pretty well out here'."
The weather turned on Thursday afternoon but on Friday it is expected to be even worse with gusts up to 40mph.
Willett admits it is difficult to worry too much about the conditions, although talk of the severity has undoubtedly made an impression on the players.
"It could be Armageddon from the looks of the weather forecast," he added.
"If you've got control of your ball you know you can still make birdies. When it starts to get worse, it can be a little bit of a lottery."
