Jason Day glossed over a couple of unforced errors and focused on the positives in his opening 68 at the 97th PGA Championship.
Day is among those considered to be the "best player without a major win", but he set about atoning for a number of near-misses in the big events with a solid four-under effort that left him two shots off the lead on Thursday.
The Australian got underway at the 10th and birdied 14 and 16 before smashing a 275-yard three-wood to 12 feet at the long second and rolling in the putt for an eagle.
Day got to five under with another birdie at the fifth, but he missed the green with a wayward wedge at the next and was unable to get up and down for his par.
"Can't really panic too much. Plenty of golf left," said Day, who also missed the green from close range on the par-five 11th and settled for par on one of the easiest holes at Whistling Straits.
"Yeah, I missed two greens with a wedge today in my hand, it's just I don't know what it is. But there's plenty of golf to be played. Everyone's trying to win, and I'm trying to win my first. He's trying to win his first, so we'll see how it goes.
"I felt good out there today. I feel like we have got the better side of the draw currently right now. And fortunately for us we got out there and got to attack the golf course. We only got the really brute force of the wind coming in the last few holes."
Meanwhile, Martin Kaymer undid much of his fine early work with a double-bogey at his finishing hole as he carded a two-under 70.
Returning to the scene of his memorable maiden major victory in 2010, the German was just two off the lead after five birdies and a bogey before coming to grief at the ninth, where he could not reach the green in two following a wayward drive and then compounded the error with a three-putt.
"It was obviously a very disappointing finish," he said. "I played really well and hit a lot of quality shots. I gave myself a lot of chances but didn't make many putts. I made a few here and there but I gave myself plenty of chances to shoot five or six under par, then I finished by losing two shots.
"That's obviously a tough one to swallow. You fight all day long to shoot a good round and so to finish that way is very frustrating.
"There were a lot of positives to take from today though, the way I hit the ball and the way I hit some putts. I was very happy about that, but under those conditions this morning, three-under would have been a good round, but two-under is only OK. That is why it is tough to take."