ADAM Scott tees off at Royal Sydney on Thursday relishing the prospect of completing the most successful summer in the history of Australian golf.
Former champion Craig Parry believes if Scott wins the Australian Open on Sunday to secure a coveted Triple Crown it would be a feat to match anything ever achieved in domestic golf Down Under.
Robert Allen by in 2005 is the only player to have won the Australian Masters, Australian PGA and Australian Open in the same season, but Scott is trying to emulate the rarest of hat-tricks after also combining with Jason Day to clinch the World Cup for Australia at Royal Melbourne on Sunday.
Parry is among an elite group of players also including Greg Norman, Peter Lonard and defending champion Peter Senior to have won all three Australian majors - but it took him 15 years.
"It's hard enough to win once, let alone the next week and now he's trying to win the Australian Open - and that's the big one," Parry said.
"Just the history of it, the great names that have won it, the mystique.
"Scotty's playing fantastic and the fact that he's had all the pressure on him coming back home to Australia and then delivered ... it's one thing to expect and another to do it."
Scott, the 2009 Australian Open champion, admitted joining Allen by in the record books would be a special end to a spectacular season in which the 33-year-old Queen slander become the first Australian to win the Masters at Augusta.
"I'm excited about this week, with the chance to win the Triple Crown," he said.
"There's a lot on the line, a lot to play for. I'm excited about having a go at it."
If a crack at the Triple Crown isn't motivation enough, Scott can also match world No.1 Tiger Woods' five wins for the year. Australia's world No.2 is at Tiger-like odds of $3.50 to win the Open, but Scott will need to outplay dual major winner Rory McIlroy and in-form Day for starters to have any hope of hoisting the Stonehaven Cup for a second time.
Scott is among a dozen former champions in the 156-strong field and not the only one eyeing a milestone victory.
Senior, who last year at 53 became the oldest Australian Open champion in history, is bidding to become the first back-to-back winner since Lonard a decade ago.
And Senior, Lonard, Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley, who won the Open as a teenage amateur at Royal Sydney in 1999, are all striving to join legends Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Norman, Peter Thomson, Carnegie Clark and Norman Von Nada to have reigned at least three times.
"I think it'll be a well-earned victory for whoever ends up on top," Scott said.
Scott had his broomstick putter working a treat during Wednesday's pro-am, his only practice round of the week, notching five straight birdies, and said he couldn't be happier with his game entering the opening round.
"I did roll a few in on the back nine," he said.
"To see a few going in in the pro-am is always good, I think. You set the tone for the week."
Scott, Day and American Kevin Streelman have been grouped together for the first two rounds, while McIlroy is playing alongside Geoff Ogilvy and Matthew Jones.
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