Ernie Els, still reeling after missing the halfway cut at the Masters, has targeted this week's Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, South Carolina, as the start of his golfing recovery.
The world number five, who failed to qualify for the weekend for the first time in a major since the 1999 PGA Championship in Medinah, is adamant he is close to regaining top form.
He has always loved playing at the picturesque Harbour Town Golf Links and hopes to make the most of his comfort level there when he tees off in Thursday's opening round.
"Harbour Town is one of my favorite golf courses on the PGA Tour and many of the players' favorite, too," the 37-year-old South African said on his official website.
"It's a really good layout, a real shot-maker's course.
"I've had some pretty solid performances here over the years and a whole bunch of top-10s. It's one of those tournaments where I feel comfortable as soon as I arrive."
The three-times major winner conceded it would not be easy to forget his struggles last week at a brutal Augusta National, where he returned scores of 78 and 76.
"It's hard for me to put any kind of positive spin on things when you've just missed your first cut in a major championship for the best part of seven years," Els said.
"It's a major downer but it makes me even more determined to get my game back to where it was four or five years ago when I was winning all the time."
The double U.S. Open champion, who has one of the smoothest swings in the game, has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2004 WGC-American Express Championship.
It took him longer than he thought to recover from knee surgery in late 2005 but he went into last week's Masters with great expectations.
"I'd been working hard on my game and the strange thing was, I was hitting it great in my practice rounds," he said. "I felt really upbeat about my chances.
"I played a practice round with Gary Player on Tuesday and he walked up to me on the 17th green and said he thought I was playing the best golf he's ever seen me play. Gary felt this was my best-ever chance to win this thing."
However, Els never recovered from a double-bogey six on his first hole and an outward nine of 42 in the opening round.
"It was probably the toughest I've ever seen Augusta play," he said. "It's the first dry week that we've had since they lengthened the golf course and it was brutal.
"You could hit a perfect golf shot and end up in an impossible spot. Par was a good score on almost every hole, so it was obviously tough making up ground. I missed out on the weekend by two shots.
"But I can't let two bad rounds knock me off course. I'm feeling pretty good with a club in my hand and all I care about now is converting it into some good scores."
Els, popularly known as the 'Big Easy', is one of five players in the world's top 20 playing at Harbour Town this week.
Second-ranked Jim Furyk returns to a venue where he has finished second for the last two years while surprise Masters champion Zach Johnson, the American world number 15, has given tournament sponsors a welcome boost by staying in the field.
Also competing this week are world number 12 Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern, ranked 17th.
Another Australian, Aaron Baddeley, defends the title he claimed last year by one shot from Furyk.
Baddeley birdied two of the last five holes at the Harbour Town Golf Links for a closing 70 and a maiden victory on the PGA Tour.
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