Shane Lowry was delighted to execute his plan as he led the home charge after the opening day of the Amgen Irish Open.
The 39-year-old famously won this event as an amateur in 2009 and has played every edition since as he looks to become the first player from the Republic of Ireland to win it twice in the DP World Tour era.
Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Ireland, Doonbeg is playing host for the first time and brought typical links conditions, with strong winds causing unavoidable delays in lengthy rounds.
Chilean Joaquin Niemann was the leader after day one at five under but Lowry was just two back, one ahead of Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin and two clear of defending champion Rory McIlroy.
The County Clare layout is a single loop, with the wind tending to be with you on the front nine and into on the back, and Lowry was pleased with how he tackled the challenge.
"It was pretty good," he said. "Look, you knew going out that you needed to make some birdies early on on those par fivess that were downwind. I felt like I did that.
"Then when I turned around, I felt like I did a solid job of making pars and trying to get to the clubhouse as quick as I could. I'm happy with my score.
"I played a lot of golf this year, probably over golfed myself in the middle of the season. But, yeah, I'm here now at the Irish Open and I feel great and hopefully I can keep going."
McKibbin, playing alongside European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, echoed Lowry's sentiments as he birdied three of his first four holes before coming home in 35.
"Obviously knew the first sort of four holes were down wind, a couple of chances there," he said. "So, yeah, very nice to take advantage of those holes before the really hard holes came in on the back nine."
Despite being just 23, McKibbin is playing in his fifth Irish Open this week and was glad to be able to utilise that experience in testing conditions.
"I'm definitely a different player," he said. "I'm definitely a better player now. Especially in these conditions, I think if I was to come here five years ago I would have struggled a lot and probably not sort of embraced the challenge that it was today.
"Yeah, definitely very proud of the way I've sort of maybe improved over the last number of years."
McIlroy, meanwhile, turned in 34 but then made a double on the 13th after leaving his ball in a bunker before bouncing back with a birdie on the 15th.
"I felt like I did a good job," he said. "After making the double bogey on 13 I was just trying to get those two shots back by the end of the day. Didn't quite do that, but I think finishing under par for the day was a reasonable effort.
"I tried to take too much club and get it out of there and that backfired on me. But apart from that, I felt like I struck the ball pretty well today and hit some good shots coming down the stretch. The putting's always hard in the wind as well.
"Look, I hung in there, shot under par, and at least don't feel like I'm out of the tournament. A good day tomorrow gets me right back in it."
