Niklas Nørgaard hailed his "best round in nine months" as a three-under-par 69 left him in contention after the first round of the 2026 Hero Indian Open.
The Dane made six birdies to more than offset his three bogeys at the difficult DLF G&CC.
"Very, very happy actually," he said. "Probably the best round of golf I've played in nine months or so. So I'm happy with that, yeah, I'm happy about today.
"It's probably the course we play all year where you have to be the most focused because a little slip and you make a bogey or worse very easily.
"I think I just, kind of changed my mindset a little bit. I've been lately very impatient, so much into every round and before today, I was more like 'let's have more of a long-term mindset'.
"So whatever happened today, just have to build for the future. And I think that eased it and took a little bit of pressure off today."
Starting on the back nine, Nørgaard birdied the 15th, fourth and eighth, three of the four par-fives on the demanding New Delhi course, along with the 11th, 13th and first.
Three times he gave the shot straight back, on the 16th, second and ninth, but he was happy to have chosen his moments well.
Asked about the birdie opportunities available, he said: "The par-fives for sure - again, if you hit it in the fairway, but once you don't you just try to get a par.
"The par-fives you can get around and then a few of the par-fours as well.
"You can make some birdies because if you're in the fairway you might most likely have some wedges in, but if you just miss it in the wrong spot, it's either in the jungle or an impossible chip or putt."
