Free-rolling Adam Scott hopes a final-hole fightback can propel him all the way to a fairytale US Open triumph.
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It seems far-fetched after Scott and Australia's other golf stars were left playing catch up once more following grinding starts to the year's second major championship in North Carolina.
But Scott, contesting his 92nd consecutive major, truly believes after draining a long birdie putt at the last hole to salvage an even-par 70 at penal Pinehurst No.2.
The former world No.1 sits five shots behind first-round co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay and reckons he can reel in the two heavyweights.
"If I'm playing well, if I can get the birdies in the right order tomorrow and move in the right direction, I feel like I can be very much within reach by the end of the day," Scott said.
It was a dramatic mood change for Australia's only ever Masters winner after he racked up a double bogey 10 minutes earlier on the par-4 eighth, when he left his approach putt short from down the slope and watched the ball tumble back off the treacherous, igloo-like green.
"It's the same for everyone, but I hit a pretty good shot into eight," Scott said.
"It's very fine lines here on the greens, and I got a bounce to the left and it went into the worst spot.
"I felt like I was kind of willing that one in on nine because I felt like I really deserved to shoot even par.
"I don't know why that one shot feels so much better than shooting over par, but it feels like a small victory to say you've shot par at a US Open."
Scott only scraped into the 156-man field last week to keep his extraordinary majors streak going and says the reprieve has freed him up.
"It was a little bit of a weight on my shoulders," he said.
"I want to compete here and have a chance to win so badly."
Without a victor at golf's toughest test since Geoff Ogilvy in 2006, Australia's challenge seemingly rests yet again with Scott and fellow major winners Cameron Smith and Jason Day.
Smith and Day are one shot behind Scott - and six strokes off the pace - after grinding out 71s, while Min Woo Lee carded a 73 and Jason Scrivener a 74.
Cam Davis faces the fiercest fight of all to make the halfway cut after starting with a seven-over 77.
Smith had arrived this week confident of contending but the first round proved more of the same in a lacklustre season for the 2022 British Open champion.
He managed only two birdies to be tied for 34th with, among others, American world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Day, who rallied from three over with a three-birdie back nine.
Cantlay and McIlroy matched eventual champion Martin Kaymer's opening 65 at Pinehurst in 2014 to grab a one-shot lead over Sweden's Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg.
Big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 champion, is lurking at three under in a tie for fourth with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
Australian Associated Press
