Rory McIlroy called his brilliant first-round score of 65 at the Genesis Scottish Open 'the complete performance', but insists he is not getting complacent as he looks to win his second Claret Jug at The Open Championship next week.
The Northern Irishman comes into this week off the back of his tied-32nd finish at the US Open, where he showed signs of brilliance around Shinnecock Hills, but was ultimately unable to pull all aspects of his game together.
On Thursday, the six-time major champion blitzed his way around The Renaissance Club, and appears to have fixed some of the accuracy issues he was having with his driver at the US Open, hitting nine fairways out of a possible 13 as he took a share of the early clubhouse lead.
McIlroy's putter was also in red-hot form, with the Northern Irishman draining an 18ft putt for eagle on the par-five first hole.
"I'm pretty happy with how I've played out there," McIlroy said.
"I drove the ball well, which has been something that, you know, wasn't there at the start of the year.
"I feel like my iron play was pretty good for the most part. Putted the ball nicely. I didn't put myself out of position too much."
Since ending his 11-year wait to win his fifth major championship and finally clinch the career Grand Slam and the elusive Green Jacket at The Masters in 2025, McIlroy says he feels liberated.
But the two-time Masters champion insists he isn't resting on his laurels. While his goals may have changed, McIlroy is still hungry to keep winning.
"It's a very liberating feeling, but again I can't get complacent," McIlroy said. "I still need to set goals. Scottie Scheffler talked about it at Shinnecock a couple of weeks ago: if he were to go win the career Grand Slam, the goalposts would move, and you have to figure out what else you want to do.
"I felt like the career Grand Slam last year was the destination, and I realised it wasn't. It is a continuous journey.
"It's a journey until you decide one day that you want to step off and do something else, but as long as I'm on this journey, there will always be goals to achieve."
McIlroy has reduced his schedule this season, having featured in only four events since his second Masters win in April.
He also chose to skip last week's Signature Event, the Travelers Championship, and returned to the United Kingdom to spend time with his family, and play a round of golf with Shane Lowry and Luke Donald at St Enodoc Golf Club in Cornwall.
While questions have been raised over his decision to play on the PGA Tour less, McIlroy says he feels like he now has "more balance" in his life, adding that giving himself more time to practise has also been beneficial.
"The challenge is, I feel like even though I have played pretty sparsely over the past few months, the starts of my tournaments have all been really good.
"So it's not like I'm coming in and starting slow, and the little bit of extra practice I think actually helps in some ways.
"I think one of the other benefits for me, like I'm nearly 20 years into this, and I need to do everything I can to keep my enthusiasm as high as possible, and playing a lighter schedule definitely does that."
McIlroy will commence his second round alongside Robert MacIntyre and Chris Gotterup at 1.43pm on Friday.
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