More than happy to "fly under the radar", Jason Day is vowing to keep his head down after thrusting his name into the thick of a star-studded first-round leaderboard at the Masters.
After opening with a bogey-free five-under 67, Day is tucked in nicely two shots behind co-leaders Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and LIV Golf's revitalised former world No.1 Brooks Koepka.
Fresh off winning the LIV Golf Orlando in Florida on Sunday, and finally over the knee injury that has troubled him for more than two years, Koepka rattled off eight birdies to serve notice to his rivals that a fifth major championship could finally be in the offing.
He's not overly interested in striking a blow for the 17 LIV breakaways remaining in the field after fellow American Kevin Na withdrew injured midway through his round.
"There's only really a couple of things I care about - going to work out and going to play golf and that's it when we're here. Nothing else really matters," Koepka said.
"It's full focus on this and trying to walk out of here with a green jacket."
Rahm showed his class by recovering from a double bogey on the first to also shoot seven under.
"If you're going to make a double-bogey, might as well do it on the first hole (when you have) 71 holes to make it up," Rahm said.
"I'm really happy I started the way I did and gave myself a solid start to the week."
Hovland upstaged playing partner Tiger Woods (74) with five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys.
"If you want to win this tournament, you can't be scared about playing with Tiger," Hovland said of his illustrious rival, a Masters winner on five occasions.
With defending champion and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, fellow major winners Shane Lowry, Gary Woodland and countryman Adam Scott, newly crowned WGC Match Play champion Sam Burns and world No.4 Xander Schauffele lurking just one shot behind him in a tie for sixth, it's little wonder Day isn't getting carried away.
"It's nice to be able to get off to a good start, but you can't get too far ahead of yourself," Day said.
"It might end up turning into a marathon if we have a pretty wet, windy conditions on the weekend.
"I look at that leaderboard, and it's like all the names are up there.
"I played with Gordon Sargent and Zach Johnson today, so we were in a group that were kind of flying under the radar.
"You look at the leaderboard, it's very, very stacked right now. Any one of those guys can win easily and there's big names on that leaderboard right now.
"I've just got to keep my head down and keep pushing forward."
Making his ninth attempt at completing a career grand slam, Rory McIlroy opened with an even-par 72.
MASTERS FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD:
65: Jon Rahm (ESP), Brooks Koepka (USA), Viktor Hovland (NOR)
67: Jason Day (AUS), Cameron Young (USA)
68: Adam Scott (AUS), Scottie Scheffler (USA), Shane Lowry (IRE), Gary Woodland (USA), Sam Burns (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Sam Bennett (USA)
