Nathan Green admitted he needs to improve his mental application to the game after a solid opening round put him in a share of second place at the New Orleans Classic. The 33-year-old has struggled to make an impact on the US PGA Tour since his rookie year in 2006 when he finished fifth on debut before reaching a playoff alongside Tiger Woods and Jose Maria Olazabal in his second tournament, the Buick Invitational, before being eliminated on the first extra hole. But a first-round five-under 67 on Thursday has Green nicely placed just one shot behind leader Charlie Wi. Also at five-under are Americans Jay Williamson, Parker McLachlin, Charles Warren and John Merrick. “It&aposs just a commitment, and I see the other guys out there working hard, and they&aposre getting further and further away. A lot of it with me is mental,” Green said after his round. “I think I feel like I&aposm killing a snake with my golf swing. I&aposll put it on video and it&aposs not as bad as I think it is. But I don&apost know. I&aposve got to mentally get better. I knock myself around a little bit.” “It&aposs just been a real fight for me to get on the tour, and then sort of just lost it a little bit the last few years.” Fellow Aussie Rod Pampling also made a good start with a four-under 68 placing him in a tie for eighth place, while Greg Chalmers, Jarrod Lyle and Jason Day are a further stroke back at three-under. New Zealand 18-year-old Danny Lee made an inauspicious start on his professional debut. Two months after becoming the youngest-ever winner on the European Tour, Lee slumped to a four-over 76 – the same score as Peter Lonard and Steve Allan. Lee had to wait only two holes for his first birdie, but drove wildly into the lake at the fourth and followed a triple bogey seven there with a double bogey six on the next. He came back with more birdies at the seventh and eighth, but closed the outward half with a bogey and then had another double at the 15th after chipping right over the green. Lee tried to look on the bright side. “I had a bunch of great shots and just had a few bad holes,” he said. “I&aposm trying to control my anger and I wasn&apost really angry at all today, but I was still disappointed about how I played and I&aposm going to try to figure it out.” Korean Wi, fourth in the Transitions Championship last month, did not drop a stroke in his 66. Kenny Perry put his Masters near-miss behind him in impressive fashion. The 48-year-old, overwhelmed by the public reaction to his playoff loss to Angel Cabrera and fearful how he might react, returned a three-under-par 69. Perry, who bogeyed the last two holes at Augusta after looking poised to become the oldest winner in major history, grabbed five birdies in six holes from the seventh. But he then bogeyed the 15th and 17th to trail Wi by three.