Adam Scott has birdied his first six holes in a spectacular start to his quest to complete a Triple Crown at the Australian Open golf championship in Sydney.
Starting his opening round on the 10th hole on Thursday, Scott made the turn in six-under-par 30 after wowing his gallery at Royal Sydney with a breathtaking display of ball striking.
So much in control was he that the world No.2’s longest birdie putt in his first five holes was less than two metres.
Scott’s extraordinary opening evoked memories of his childhood idol Greg Norman making six straight birdies to open his final round of the 1989 British Open.
Scott’s succession of birdies came to and end on his seventh hole when he was unable to two-putt from about eight metres on the 535m par-5 16th.
The Masters champion drove into the left fairway bunker and was only able to advance his second shot a short distance before cursing himself for not knocking it close with his approach.
He then got up and down from a trap to save par on his eighth hole after shooting over the back on the par-3 17th.
Scott made another scrambling par on the 18th, his ninth hole, after pulling his approach left.
But the reigning Australian PGA and Australian Masters champion, who is bidding to join Robert Allenby as the only player to pull off a hat-trick of Australia’s major tournaments in a season, produced some sublime golf early as he threatened to blow away the field.
Scott’s playing partner and World Cup-winning teammate Jason Day was among those left in his wake.
Day opened with a three-putt bogey, then dropped another shot on the second after driving over a hesian boundary fence onto a practice range.
Day nevertheless delighted the big crowd when, rather than walking back and around, he nonchalantly jumped the two-metre high fence to hit his recovery shot.
The world No.11 then made successive birdies on his third and fourth holes to drag himself back to even par, only to bogey the par-4 15th before turning in one-over 37.
Scott’s closest challenger mid-round was Scott Laycock, who was five-under through 11 holes, with fellow Victorian Nathan Holman two back in the same group.
Former world No.1 Rory McIlroy tees off later on Thursday.