Rory McIlroy insisted it could have been even better despite shooting a fabulous 65 to establish an early three-shot lead at the US Open.
The Northern Irishman banished the miserable memory of his last major outing at the Masters with a brilliant display at Congressional Country Club.
He collected six birdies during a bogey-free opening round in Maryland as he charged to the top of the leaderboard.
"It felt good," he told Sky Sports afterwards. "To be honest it felt like it could have been a couple of shots better, but I'll take 65.
"I played really good out there, I didn't make any mistakes - I think I only missed one green so when you do that in a US Open you're going to do pretty good.
"I'm hitting the ball both ways, feel very comfortable with pretty much every aspect of my game and I feel comfortable on this golf course as well.
"So when you put all that into consideration you're going to do pretty well.
Good preparation
"I think my preparation is a big thing to do with it. I like to get to the venue a week early, do my practice rounds before anyone else gets here and then I feel like I can sort of rest and conserve my energy and put it into the four tournament rounds."
McIlroy completely outshone playing partners Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson and admitted he had thrived on the big galleries that followed the marquee group.
"It was great," he continued. "The first 15 holes was fantastic and then with the weather coming in the crowds got a little smaller but I really enjoyed playing in front of a crowd like that and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow morning again.
"The greens were getting pretty chewed up this afternoon and this rain will do them the world of good.
"Hopefully with fresh greens tomorrow morning I'll be able to go out there and post something pretty similar to what I did today."
He also insisted he was determined to wipe out the memory of his Masters meltdown by securing a maiden major triumph this time around.
"I totally understand where the questions are coming from and as I said in my press conference on Tuesday I need to prove, not just to myself but to everyone else, that I have learned from Augusta and I have moved on," he concluded.
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