A frustrated Adam Scott headed straight to the practice range following a poor opening to the PGA Championship.
The world No.2, only dethroned as No.1 last week by Rory McIlroy, bumbled his way to an even par 71 on a day ripe for scoring.
"It's the easiest major set up you will ever see, it is a piece of cake out there," said Scott, six shots off the pace, tied 54th, and facing a tough chase for the next three days.
"That better be my poor round out of the way or I won't be even close."
Playing partner Lee Westwood showed the way with a six-under 65, matched by Americans Ryan Palmer and Kevin Chappell, while McIlroy was one of five just a shot back.
Scott was wayward off the tee from his opening swing, blasting his driver well right of the 10th fairway. And while he still managed to make a birdie on the par five hole, he was never really in sync.
"I didn't play very well today," he said.
"My rhythm is out. I am not hitting it down my line and that makes it hard to get around.
"And then a couple of errors compounded things and scrambling here was hard.
"You have to make all of your putts when you are not hitting it good and I didn't make them all today ... you have to keep somehow salvaging par and you can have a good round if you do that, but I didn't.
"My swing was coming around in practice but it is always a little difficult when you hit one out of rhythm off the first tee, it's not the most ideal start, and hard to get the level of trust going out there."
Scott's a run of seven pars, most of which involved scrambling, was broken by a poor bogey on the par five 18th - after driving into a bunker and laying up, Scott left his approach some 15 metres from the hole.
The lag putt was decent but the 2013 Masters champion then missed the short one for par to turn even.
He bounced back by playing the first hole, his 10th, with precision, tapping in a two-foot birdie putt.
But back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes stunted any thoughts of a run up the boards. needing to make a nine-foot birdie putt on his last hole just to break even with the card.
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