There was a sense of surprise from the collective around Trump National Doral on Friday as Adam Scott surged into third place at the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship, but not from the man himself.
Rarely does the world No.5 come into events under the radar and without high expectations from all and sundry but, given he’s been out of the competitive environment for two-and-a-half months, distracted by the birth of his first child and making a switch to a short putter for the first time in four years, the pre-tournament attention has been elsewhere.
With a second round four-under-par 68 moving the Queenslander into third place, three shots off the lead, the focus is well and truly back on.
At six-under 138 on Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster course, Scott is well poised at the halfway point, three behind JB Holmes, who has fallen back slightly with a 73 to be nine under, after a blistering 62 in round one.
Fellow American Ryan Moore (71) holds second at seven under while world No.2 Bubba Watson (69) and No.3 Henrik Stenson (71) share fourth at four under.
When asked again if he was surprised with his play, Scott was forthright.
“To be honest, I think it’s kind of how my game felt (coming in). It felt good. I was quietly confident,” Scott said.
“I think I should play well and I’ve played solid for a couple days. I’m quite pleased with all the work I’ve done leading up to this event at home and somehow managed to take it out on the course in competition.
“It’s a really good starting point for the year, and hopefully build on that on the weekend and the really important next few weeks out here on tour leading into the Masters.”
While others waited for proof round one’s impressive putting performance was an aberration, Scott went about showing his departure from the anchored broomstick putter he used to win the 2013 Masters was not going to be an issue.
Through two rounds, he is second in the field in strokes gained putting, a stat he has been ranked an average 126th on tour over the past five seasons.
“To be honest, I really have spent very little time on it. I feel like it’s in a good place, and I really don’t want to clutter myself at the moment with too much thought or try too hard,” he said.
“It’s one of those things I think I need to get out of my own way a little bit and that’s been something I’ve been thinking about just generally with my golf as I’ve been sitting at home with a lot of time on my hands.
“It’s not that I’m not practising – it’s that I’m not stressing about it and everything is feeling good, and just kind of roll with it and stay on top of the fundamentals and hopefully I keep making putts.”
While Scott kept firing, compatriot and world No.4 Jason Day continued to struggle with a 74 dropping him six over and a tie for 57th in the 74-man field.
World No.1 Rory McIlroy (70) overcame throwing his three-iron into a lake after an errant shot on the eighth hole to get to one under with Australian John Senden (70) to remain an outside chance in a tie for 11th.
Greg Chalmers (+5), Steven Jeffress (+5) and Geoff Ogilvy (+6) are well off the pace.
