Adam Scott showed his enormous fondness for European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship in muscling his way to third place on day one at Wentworth.

It had been 15-years since Scott teed-up in leafy Surrey and he found the famed ‘Burma Road’ course again to his liking with eight birdies in a seven-under par.

If left the champion Australian just a shot behind the leading duo of Thailand’s Kiradech Aphribarnrat and South African Christian Bezuidenhout who posted eight-under par 64s.

Aphribarnrat capped his round near lunch with five birdies in succession from the 10^th hole while Bezuidehout highlighted his round with a fourth hole eagle and then three birdies in a row and ended his day also with a hat-trick of birdies, including holing a curling birdie putt on the 18^th.

Well done coach! That was great distance and club selection 👏💪

With @AdamScott ‘s caddy this week his long-time swing coach & fellow 🇦🇺 Brad Malone @SanctuaryCoveGC @BMWPGA @GolfAust @PGAofAustralia @golf_grinder https://t.co/qnaYhpB1vL

— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) September 9, 2021

Both players teed-up having recently earned 2021/22 PGA Tour membership.

Scott highlighted his round, and with a sensational sixth birdie of his day, at the par-4 15^th however it was not as simple as it may sound as Scot’s tee shot founds trees and fearing it may have crossed the ‘OOB’ line, he played a provisional that looked more ‘OOB’ than the first.

Scott found his original ball and then chipped a second just short of the green from where he then delighting the crowd when his ball took a couple of bounces and headed straight to the bottom of the cup.

“I definitely thought the first ball was out-of-bounds but it must have clouded around in the trees and dropped down,” he said.

“The second ball actually might not have been any better off the tee but we found the first one and punched it up there. That was a good shot, hit it 50 yards and flicked it straight at the hole.

Some days it’s your day out there, and it kind of felt like that a bit for me today. It was nice to make the most of it and shoot a good number”.

Scott gave the shot back at the next before finishing birdie, birdie

“There was a lot of really good, solid stuff”, he said after his round.

“Generally, it was fairways and greens. There wasn’t too much squirrely stuff, although a couple wedges coming in, could have been better. Then on 15, I got out of jail and made an incredible ‘3’ so it is nice to get a break and take advantage of it.”

Scott has long-time coach, Brad Malone on the bag this week and with the duo clearly having a good time as they worked their way around the West Course.

“It worked good today, so we’ll see how the next three days go”, said Scott in replying to a question having Malone on the bag.

“But he’s caddied for me once before, and he likes getting in there and having a look and seeing what’s going on every once in a while on the course. It’s not been the easiest year on the course for me. I’ve struggled to get momentum going, unlike today. Maybe the driver is the answer today.”

Scott’s three fellow Australians struggled with Wade Ormsby posting a 73, Min Woo Lee, and on his BMW PGA debut, a 76 while Scott Hend signed for a 76.