While a missed opportunity at a major championship may hang with players for a long time, Hunter Mahan quickly put Sunday’s U.S. Open finish behind him en route to a first-round 62 Thursday at the Travelers Championship.

For Mahan, it’s all about momentum and confidence as he continues to look for his first win of the 2013 season.

“It’s a continuous effort over the last couple months of just trying to work and get better,” Mahan said in a post-round interview. “Last week gave me confidence and this is a place I enjoy playing. Confidence is high right now.”

Mahan, who collected his first career Tour win six years ago at the Travelers Championship and has posted four top-10 finishes at the event may have lacked that confidence at the end of 2012, with it carrying over into 2013.

Click here to see photos and the full specs of the clubs in Hunter Mahan’s bag.

The California native posted two victories early in 2012, but then claimed just one top-10 finish in his next 14 tournaments, missing the cut on three occasions. The stretch of poor play left Mahan out as a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup, and left him with an “empty” feeling to finish out the season.

When he arrived at Merion last week, Mahan had two top-10 finishes to his credit for 2013, but had finished no better than 16th in his last nine tournaments, with two missed cuts.

On Thursday, Mahan had his entire game working. He missed just one fairway, hit 16 greens and just needed 27 putts in his opening round.

Admittedly, TPC River Highlands fits his eye, especially on the greens.

“I think this is the most comfortable course on Tour for me,” he said. “I feel like I have a good sense of these greens. I can read them really well. When you have confidence in what you see, it makes your stroke a lot easier.”

Putting is one area where Mahan is headed on the right track. Last season, he ranked 112th on Tour in strokes gained, at negative 0.77. That means he was 0.77 strokes per round worse than the average putter on Tour. So far this season, Mahan is 30th in the same stat, at .430, which means he’s gaining nearly half a shot on every round on the greens. And his driving accuracy and greens in regulation percentages, which are some of the best on tour every year, are nearly identical to last year.

Mahan will look to ride his confidence through the weekend and currently trails first-round leader Charlie Hoffman (9-under) by one stroke.