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Rory McIlroy was satisfied with an opening 69 at the US PGA Championship despite his failure to build on a superb start at Oak Hill.
The defending champion admitted to watching videos of his record-breaking eight-shot victory at Kiawah Island last year to help inspire him to end a wretched run of form.
It looked like the tactic had paid off when he birdied three of the first four holes before coming up short with his approach to the fifth and spinning his ball back into water.
He limited the damage to a five and got the shot back at the ninth only to bogey the next two before being forced off the course for 70 minutes due to approaching storms.
The world No 3 returned to birdie the 12th, but he dropped another shot at 17 and did well to save par from eight feet at the last.
"I got off to a fast start but the bogeys on the 10th and 11th halted my momentum," said McIlroy, who is four shots behind leaders Jim Furyk and Adam Scott.
"I came back after the delay with a nice birdie on the 12th but the last four hole stretch is pretty tough. All things considered one under is not a bad score.
"I felt like I could shoot a low one, but that last four-hole stretch is tough. I didn't play it like I wanted but all things considered it wasn't a bad round."
