Tommy Fleetwood hailed "a really good driving day" as he continued his remarkable recent run of form with a flawless 65 on day one of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The Dubai resident made seven birdies and no bogeys as he equalled his best-ever Earth Course score to sit one shot off the first-round lead.
The Englishman has enjoyed a stellar year, ending his long wait for a first PGA TOUR title at the Tour Championship to capture the FedExCup in August, playing a key role in Europe's historic away Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black in September and winning the DP World India Championship last month before losing out to Aaron Rai in a tense play-off last Sunday.
But Fleetwood believes he has not driven the ball better throughout that hugely successful run than he did on Thursday.
He said: "I feel like it was a really good day. I didn't think it was that easy.
"There are some really good scores out there. I thought there were some really demanding shots on that back nine, and I felt like I got into a really good rhythm.
"Drove it as well as I've driven it all year. It was a really good driving day.
"It was a really good score. Like I said, a lot of demanding shots and some pins were tucked away. I made two or three good par saves, which is key."
World Number Four Fleetwood thinks his hard work and daily pursuit of improvement are behind his fine form.
He said: "I'm on a really great run at the moment. My results have been really good. But I really think it's consistency of hard work in all areas, and you know, I'm very lucky with having great information from great people that are around me.
"We've been chipping away for a long time. We've played very consistently for a long time and now we're just having a great run. Hopefully it's not just a great run and this is how I play golf, but we've got to see what happens in the future.
"It's been really, really good. I think always trying to consistently improve day in, day out, no matter how little that step may be, always try and do that. Every now and again, you get lucky and it shows."
