Richie Ramsay and James Morrison were eager to give credit to coaches as they made impressive starts to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
Ramsay carded a 66 to get to six under on day one of the fourth Rolex Series event of the season, with home favourite Morrison a shot further back in glorious conditions.
Scot Ramsay has enjoyed three top tens so far this season but admitted his swing was "not in a great place" recently and missed his first cut in just over four months in Switzerland two weeks ago.
Discussions with coach Ian Rae have since brought some clarity and Ramsay believes the PGA Master Professional has made a big difference.
"It's obviously a beautiful day," he said. "A course that like a lot of guys, I grew up watching on TV. You feel like you know the back nine before you've even played the course for the first time.
Not easy shooting 66, right @RamsayGolf? 😴#BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/H7LmKSYlvz
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 14, 2023
"The sun came out and it's a place that I love coming back to. It's got all the ingredients that make it a great tournament and there's a big incentive for guys to play well, looking at the Race to Dubai and where you want to play next year.
"But a lot of the credit has got to go to Ian Rae because I was in not a great place a few weeks ago and we were in a discussion about where I was, what I was doing with my swing.
"I was kind of a little bit lost in Switzerland and it was actually good I missed the cut. It gave me a weekend to figure things out and that's definitely shown from today's performance.
"I've got a lot of experience and kind of call upon that. You don't quite go to panic stations but it does play in your mind. You do wake up sometimes in the middle of the night thinking about just where I'm at at the top of my backswing, is this the right spot.
"He's always been right there to help me and support me and is someone that I trust. And then I've tried to couple that with trying to be consistent every day.
"So the viewpoint is that things won't change dramatically day-to-day but if I can do something day-to-day over the course of a number of weeks or months or whatever, I will get it to the place I want it to be.
"I find that quite good because it gives you a little bit of a purpose and direction, so every day you know what you need to do and hopefully if you can smash that over time, you can see the difference and this is a nice little opening."
While Ramsay has had a relationship with Rae for a number of years, Morrison has only recently started working with two-time DP World Tour winner Soren Hansen.
The Englishman has made his last five cuts and revealed his improved confidence is down in part to the Dane as he looks for a big week on home soil.
"I've been working with Soren since Belgium and he's really transformed my game iron play-wise and I have a lot of confidence," he said.
"I haven't finished a few weeks off, I feel like every week I'm getting better and playing well and my brain is in a good spot. It takes one week to change the year and I've been playing nicely the last few months, so long may it continue.
"I've had a couple top-11s and I've been in contention a few times before and I was in contention last year after three days and had a bad final day.
"But it's a golf course I like and I really feel like before the end of my career, whenever that will be, whenever the game spits me out, it would be nice to have a really, really good week around here one year.
"Maybe it's this year, maybe it's not but stick to what I'm doing and see how it goes."
