If I remember correctly, McBeth said at one point that he wasn't attacking the course in past years, he was trying to play it safe because he thought that was the better strategy for this course. He said that after he shot -15 in the final round last year it kind of made him reconsider this, and he decided to change his strategy this year.
Again, to paraphrase my broken memory, he said, "I just hate that it took me five years to figure out this course." His -14 on day one this year seems to confirm that he should indeed play the course in attack mode rather than safe mode.
I could probably have told him that considering McBeast is his nickname.