Matt Fitzpatrick was delighted to see the ball going where he wanted it to after putting himself right in contention heading into the weekend at the Genesis Scottish Open.
The Englishman was in the world's top 20 when he arrived the Renaissance Club last summer, but is now 77th after a disappointing 12 months by his standards.
But he appears to be turning a corner, with two top tens in his last five starts, and his 63 in East Lothian matched his lowest round of 2025 so far.
The 2022 U.S. Open champion was bogey-free as he catapulted himself up the leaderboard at the season's second Rolex Series event and it was clear where he felt the improvement lie.
"My approach play is a lot better," he said. "I've been making some changes since the RBC (Heritage in April) and just really felt more comfortable and hitting the shots that match my intention. Since then, I've played much better.
"I'm just hitting my irons much better. That was the big thing that I was really struggling with. If you're not giving yourself birdie opportunities, it's hard to climb up the leaderboard.
"I feel like since I've been here, that's better. I feel like I'm a half-decent putter and can give myself plenty of chances and make the putts, you're going to be able to shoot some good scores.
"I think you've only got to see a little bit of progress and you get that confidence pretty quickly. It's just about fine-tuning. It's easy to get sort of lost in one when it's been so poor.
I just really felt more comfortable and hitting the shots that match my intention
"So I think that was the big thing for me was just making sure everything else was where it needed to be and hopefully when the time came, the approach play performed as I needed."
Fitzpatrick has proven himself to be a fine links player, having won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but he admitted conditions were in his favour at a calm and warm Renaissance.
"I got up this morning and where we're staying there's a view of the sea and it was just flat. Just like a pond. So I knew it was obviously going to be a nice day," he added.
"There wasn't any wind, I would say, for the first 15 holes of our round. That's always a real advantage, particularly in links golf. But with that, you've got to take advantage of that and felt like I did."
