Adam Scott digs deep during the third round to haul himself back into contention at Royal Melbourne.
IT will appear on his scorecard as a regulation three, but there was nothing ordinary about it. Adam Scott, by his own admission tiring on his green jacket homecoming tour after wins in consecutive weeks before this World Cup, was in a horrendous lie in a greenside 14th bunker and in distinct danger of another disaster.Remember, he'd taken an almost unthinkable quintuple bogey nine on Thursday and a double-bogey six from nowhere on Friday as he battled his normally flawless swing for the first time in three weeks.And here he was, about to blast from a half-buried lie to a pin downhill, downwind and only 5m from his stance.Former touring pro Paul Gow, a three-time winner in the United States, said he'd do well to keep his shot within 8m of the pin.For how hard he'd fought to get back into the hunt after his previous calamities, Scott knew he couldn't afford it again.And with the weight of the team event, the "Scotty-slam" and his own expectations firmly on his shoulders, the Queenslander simply nipped it cleanly 3m past the pin and calmly rolled in the par putt - just as champions do. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Scott then made birdies on 15 and 17 - albeit split by a bogey on the brutal 16th - and signed for what he said was an "ugly" three-under-par 68 to haul himself back into a tie for eighth when the masses had dared to write him off."The rhythm wasn't good, they weren't coming out spot on line. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't crisp," he said."That one on 14 was really good, though. I didn't really give myself much of a chance there and I hit about as good a shot as I could and yeah, it was a good day."I'm knocking the putts in that you want to make, all those ones, par saves and a few 10-footers that I got for birdie rolled in."The putter is actually starting to feel pretty good, so if I can get the rhythm back for tomorrow, you never know, it could be one of those days."Those days have become more common for Scott than most on the planet - and if he does get rolling in the final round, be sure that his name will send a shudder up the leaderboard."I've been saying there's a really low round in me and it hasn't come out yet."I'd like to find it tomorrow."Scott referred to playing Royal Melbourne so many times in a row - after last week's Australian Masters triumph on the same course - as being like "Groundhog Day".For the remaining seven players above him after his long haul back, they'd want to hope that's not entirely true.
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