Shane Lowry is feeling good about his week at Oakmont Country Club and believes the tough challenge of the US Open suits his approach to golf.
The Pennsylvania layout is regarded as one of the toughest in golf but when the first round resumed on Friday after weather upset the schedule, the heavy rain had softened up the course and taken out some of its bite.
It still provided a stern challenge, with Andrew Landry's 66 the lowest opening round ever at a US Open at Oakmont, but Lowry was just two shots behind as he picked up a brace of birdies in his remaining seven holes.
The Irishman has what it takes to beat an elite international field having won the WGC - Bridgestone Invitational last season, and he believes tough conditions can bring out the best in him.
"Weeks like this I get my head around it for some reason," he said. "I know it is going to be tough golf and you are going to miss greens and make bogeys. When I'm like this, I can accept bogeys a little easier.
"I feel good this week. I've been hitting the ball well recently and my putter has been cold, but I holed a few this week. Even today, if you go through my last six holes, on 15, 16 and 18 I holed some nice putts."
Those were all clutch putts for par with birdies coming on the 14th and 17th, and Lowry was glad to have taken advantage of the conditions after speaking of not taking the course for granted on Thursday evening.
"To shoot 68 around there is pretty good," he added. "I knew coming out this morning that I would definitely need to par it in because although the wind is supposed to get up and the course will dry out, if you hit it in the fairways there are chances out there, but if you miss it is quite tough.
To play those last six holes in two under is nice - Shane Lowry
Landry hit just a single shot on Friday morning, a ten-footer for a closing birdie on the ninth to hand him the record, but the American did not seem to have been thinking about it too much overnight.
"I just kind of thought about it this morning a little bit," he said. "I read the putt yesterday. I knew what it was doing. I knew it was a cup and a half out to the right, so no big break. It was a pretty easy putt to make if you get the speed right.
"So I just pretty much thought about it this morning, thought about it a little bit last night, but I didn't, like, dream about it."
World Number Three Rory McIlroy did not enjoy his resumption as much, making four bogeys in six holes to slip to seven over, and he is hopeful of going low in round two after doing some work on his swing.
"You really need to be in control of your golf swing and today, or over the last two days, I haven't been," he said. "So I need to work on that.
"But there are low scores out there and if I'm able to get myself together I feel like I will be able to shoot one of those and I can stick around for the weekend at least.
"I need to shoot something like 66 in the next round to give myself any chance."
