Just once in his illustrious career has Adam Scott won back-to-back victories.
Both were on the east coast of Australia and with the then reigning Masters champion returning home to Australia triumphantly to captured the 2013 Australian PGA Championship in his native Queensland before a week later heading south to Victoria to be fitted with a ‘Golden Wattle’ coloured jacket as winner of the Australian Masters.
There’s a familiar face on top of the leaderboard @CadillacChamp.
Scores: https://t.co/rc4FrTgjmM pic.twitter.com/dKbfc6h8zS— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 4, 2016
Scott, in a round highlighted by a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th, moved two shots clear of the field with a six under par 66 and a 10-under par 36-hole tally on the Blue Monster course at Trump Doral.
And after capturing last week’s Honda Classic, Scott’s travelled the some 75 minutes south on the I-95 that runs the entire length of the U.S. East Coast to suburban Miami where reckons he’s in a good frame of mind to win for a second week running in the States.
“I’m probably a little more relaxed this week leading going into the weekend than if I had not won last week,” he said.
“But a 36-hole lead doesn’t mean that much unless it’s by about ten. I could tee off tomorrow and not be leading. I’m just going to have to play a good couple of days and try and keep moving in the right direction while the conditions are allowing us to.”
Adam Scott lifts the 2007 Australian Masters trophy and the first and last time he won back-to-back in his career.
Bizarrely, the last player to win back-to-back on the PGA Tour was fellow Aussie Jason Day and only some five months ago in winning the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and then returning to competition to walk away with the Barclays Championship crown.
For the record, it is the 16th occasion Scott has held a 36-hole lead in PGA Tour counting events but the first this week since the 2014 Barclays Championship.
As well, Scott is seeking to lift a second WGC trophy after sealing success in the 2011 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
“Momentum is a huge factor in this game,” Scott added.
“The trick is figuring out how to use it and maintain it, keep it going from week-to-week.
“So far this week, I’ve done a good job. Now the weekend is a different animal and the leaderboard looks great. It’s going to be exciting and the course is, at the moment, producing good scores.
“But then I feel great, absolutely. It’s just the start you want in a World Golf Championships. But look at the leaderboard, I’m sure it’s going to be an amazing weekend out here. I hope I can keep my game at this high level for two more days and be in the hunt.”
