Australia’s Adam Scott admits he’s now ‘hungry’ to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational after adding a third round 71 to move to 15-under par on the Bay Hill course in suburban Orlando.
Scott went into the day leading by seven shots but has seen that lead cut to just three after 2010 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley posted a six under par 66 to move into second place on 12-under par.
The reigning Masters champion got off to a sloppy start with bogeys at his first and fifth holes before settling down to birdie the sixth, 10th and 13th holes ahead of a roller-coaster few holes where he went bogey, birdie, birdie, bogey and then an 18th hole par.
Adam Scott now ‘hungry’ to win the 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
“It was a good fightback after a tough start, when I was on the back foot and I wasn’t doing too much wrong, but I made the errors, myself,” he said.
“This course can be tough when you’re on the back foot but then I was pretty pleased with the way I played the back nine.”
Scott heads into the final round of just his fifth event this year having won six of the previous nine PGA Tour events when he’s enjoyed the third round lead or shared the lead, with the most recent being his success in the 2011 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
His largest lead on the PGA Tour was six shots when he captured the 2004 Booz Allen Classic.
And now Scott, who is still on medication for flu-like symptoms, is looking to join Fred Couples (1992) as the only wire-to-wire winner in the history of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the same year Couples also won the Masters.
Should Scott succeed at Bay Hill he will become the second Australian behind fellow Queeslander Rod Pampling (2006) to win the event.
Also victory would see Scott join another Queenslander in John Senden as the first back-to-back Australian-born winners on the PGA since Scott and Jason Day won the back-to-back 2010 Valero Texas Open and with Day a week later claiming his maiden Tour title in clinching the HP Byron Nelson Championship and both in Texas.
And only two international players have succeeded on this year’s PGA Tour and they are both Queenslanders in Day (WGC – Accenture Match-Play Championship) and Senden (Valspar Championship).
“I’m very hungry to win,” said Scott.
“I just don’t think you get the chance that much, you don’t, because there are so many guys playing well. And it’s shared around a lot more.
“And if I win one tournament in the peak time of my career it’s no different than the rest of my career so far.
“I’ve got to create these chances more often and I’ve got to take them more often than I have been doing.
“I’ve worked my back off to get into this position now after four events and I’ve got to start closing out at a better rate than ever before.
“So I’m very hungry. When you’ve got that opportunity you’ve got to take it because it’s hard to play yourself into contention three or four times a year, let alone 10, what you’d like to do.”
And what Scott is dearly also looking forward to most is greeting tournament host Arnold Palmer at the back of the 18th green tomorrow afternoon as the 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner.
“It would be huge to shake Mr. Palmer’s hand as the new champion this time tomorrow, as Arnold Palmer is one of the legends of this game and I would love to have my name on his trophy,” said Scott.
“To win also would be a big confidence lift going into the Masters and it’s just great to know than I am peaking at the right time and that can only be good.”
