Justin Thomas felt he could have finished stronger in the closing holes of Thursday's round at The Open, but was content with his start at Carnoustie.
The US PGA champion got off to a flyer by going four under through 11 holes, only for bogeys at 12 and 16 to dent his progress.
A two-under-par 69 was just three strokes back from leader Kevin Kisner and Thomas was happy to grind it out even if he felt a more favourable score was possible.
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"In terms of myself, I played fairly well, hit a lot of greens, which was good. You know, I felt like this last seven holes, I could have played a lot better. I could have scored better than I did, but I hung in there," he said.
Thomas is part of a strong American contingent sharing a house for the tournament this week, including the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Kisner, and the 25-year-old is enjoying the camaraderie among his compatriots.
"It's fun. We've done it - kids joined the crew this year. This is the third year that we've done it. It's always enjoyable. You get guys all different tee times, all different conditions. And, the odds are going to be pretty strong of one of us at least having a chance to win hopefully a couple. But, it's always good fun," he added.
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"Last year we were pretty close to the beach. We'd go hang out at the beach some afternoons and two years ago we had an unbelievable backyard that we were playing backyard baseball in."
"This year we had some soccer goals we're going to see. Who knows if we end up doing something, but we don't want to hurt ourselves. Just been enjoying each other's company."
However, rumours that Jason Dufner could be set for a career change as a goalkeeper for the United States were quickly snuffed out. "As a U.S. citizen, I hope he does not make our team, but he's a pretty good backyard goalie," Thomas joked.
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