diff --git a/placeholder.go b/placeholder.go
index 8e97a6c6..6771edc3 100644
--- a/placeholder.go
+++ b/placeholder.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package squirrel
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ func replacePositionalPlaceholders(sql, prefix string) (string, error) {
 		} else {
 			i++
 			buf.WriteString(sql[:p])
-			fmt.Fprintf(buf, "%s%d", prefix, i)
+			buf.WriteString(prefix)
+			buf.WriteString(strconv.Itoa(i))
 			sql = sql[p+1:]
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/placeholder_test.go b/placeholder_test.go
index 8e7f43f4..d720692f 100644
--- a/placeholder_test.go
+++ b/placeholder_test.go
@@ -65,3 +65,11 @@ func BenchmarkPlaceholdersArray(b *testing.B) {
 func BenchmarkPlaceholdersStrings(b *testing.B) {
 	Placeholders(b.N)
 }
+
+func BenchmarkReplacePlaceholders(b *testing.B) {
+	var ph dollarFormat
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		ph.ReplacePlaceholders("?")
+	}
+}