Melbourne - Adam Scott showed his growing comfort with the short putter as he lit up Huntingdale Golf Club with a seven-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead in the opening round of the Australian Masters on Thursday.
The former world number one made the most of benign conditions on a muggy, overcast morning and rolled in five birdies on his last eight holes to take an early three-stroke lead.
Local professionals Peter Wilson and Matthew Stieger were joint second on four-under after shooting matching 67s on the storied sandbelt course.
Gusty winds came late in the morning and are likely to make hauling in Scott difficult for the chasing pack in the afternoon.
For Scott, now world No. 12, it was a pleasing return to form after a forgettable week at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, where he finished 70th in the limited field.
“Everything panned out today,” Scott, Australia's only U.S. Masters champion, told reporters after his bogey-free round.
“I played really solid so it's nice to see a little bit of the work I've been doing last week and early this week fall into place in the tournament situation.”
The 2012 and 2013 winner, Scott is bidding for his third Masters in the last four years but first at Huntingdale, where he missed out in playoffs at the 2002 and 2003 tournaments.
Scott possesses one of the finest swings in the game but has long battled for consistency with his putting and has gradually switched to the short putter this year after years of using the broomstick-style putter.
Anchoring, or the practice of using a part of the body to help control the swing of a putter, is banned from 2016, and Scott was one of the more prominent exponents.
The transition has led to mixed results but he was pleased to need only 28 putts for his round after hitting 16 out of 18 greens in regulation.
“I feel like it's in a good spot,” the 35-year-old said of his putting. “But hopefully there are more good weeks and the confidence continues to build.” – Reuters