Nicolas Colsaerts admitted he was forced to curb his natural attacking instincts after carding an impressive one-under 69 in the second round of the US Open.
The big-hitting Belgian took advantage of the easier, early conditions at the Olympic Club to post three birdies and two bogeys and reach the halfway stage well in contention on one over par.
"I played well. I felt it was easier than Thursday," said the Volvo World Match Play champion.
"But it's getting firmer and some of the pins are three from sides and short on to the green, so it's pretty tricky.
"I could have gone a lot lower, but you can't be asking too much. I started wonderfully. I could have been three or four under after seven holes. But you get what you get, you can't really ask for anything lower than that.
"You just try to hit the most sensible shot all the time. The seventh was a perfect example, I could have gone for the green and tried to make three.
"But I felt that that pin on the top right was in a steep slope, so I didn't want to have a difficult shot around the green. So I just hit an iron and just I felt par was a good score there."
Colsaerts, who started at the ninth, dropped only one shot over the fearsome first six holes on the Lake Course and was delighted to get through the stretch with minimal damage.
"I thought my last six, seven holes, which was going to be the toughest ones on that wrong side, were going to keep my round in shape," he added. "I thought if I just parred my way on these it would still look pretty good."
