Adam Scott must hope finally conquering his Augusta National nemesis hole is an omen for a major championship breakthrough at the Masters.
A regular majors contender for the past two years, Scott put himself in the mix again with an opening three-under-par 69 to be tied 10th, three shots off the lead.
The world No.7 couldn’t help but be heartened by his result at the tough 407m, par-4 opening hole, the scene of so many early setbacks for him.
In his 40 previous Masters rounds at Augusta National, Scott was a whopping 19-over par on the first hole with not a single birdie.
That record looked set to be extended when his loose opening drive cannoned into a tree and rebounded into a fairway trap.
But Scott nailed the green with a precision eight iron from the sand and sunk the short putt for birdie – one of only nine on the day on the hole ranked toughest on the course.
“That was a bonus, really on one,” Scott admitted frankly. “I hit a great shot out of the fairway trap.”
Scott had every reason for optimism about his tournament chances, given his recent record in the Masters and majors in general.
A joint runner-up with fellow Australian Jason Day behind Charl Schwartzel two years ago, the Queenslander finished strongly to be tied eighth last year. He also has six top-15 finishes in the past eight majors.
“I just got to keep in touch really again tomorrow,” Scott said. “If I can stay three back or improve that’s a good spot going into the weekend.
“It’s a great start but it was a beautiful day. I think it was really great for scoring conditions.
“So I think that I’m happy with that. It’s a start.”
After his miracle birdie on the first, Scott hooked his tee shot into a creek on the second, ended in an unplayable position and handed the shot right back before getting birdies on three, eight and 15.
“Just a little brain fade on the second but then back to business so overall I’m very happy,” he said.
“I played how I kind of expected to. I could have created a couple more chances, but I didn’t get very greedy with my irons.
“So I didn’t leave myself a lot of great chances.”
