Despite two bogeys at the close, Luke Donald was encouraged by his performance in the first round of the Scottish Open.
Donald: Gearing up for Royal Lytham
Donald opened with a five-under-par 67 that included seven birdies in his first competitive round since missing the cut at the US Open, and was pleased with the solid performance ahead of next week's Open Championship.
"After three weeks off from competitive golf that was a nice solid round," he said.
"Obviously I let a couple slip at the end, but overall I'm pleased.
"It's always hard when you've had a little bit of time off to be completely 100 per cent sharp, but it feels like I'm right on the cusp of figuring out exactly what I need.
He added: "Seven birdies mean I'm doing a lot of things right.
"Conditions were pretty generous - no wind, pretty soft greens - and I wouldn't mind a bit of wind just to get that feel for next week.
"It's good to test the swing - you need to control the ball when it's windy.
"Obviously the margins (for errors) are a lot smaller next week and I've got to be a little more accurate.
"The last couple of weeks I worked extremely hard, more so on my long game than I usually do.
"I was just really disappointed with the control I had at the US Open. I felt I needed to hit left to right there, but didn't do it the right way."
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