Australia’s Adam Scott finds himself sharing the driving honours despite the famed ‘Bear Trap’ taking a huge four-stroke bite from his lead on day three of the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens.

Scott was in cruise control coming to the par three 15th hole but first put he tee shot into water way right of the green and then in playing a third, the Aussie’s ball rolled off the bank back right behind the green and also into alligator-infested hazard.

The only good thing in Scott’s favour, as he seeks to capture an 11th regular PGA Tour victory and also after finishing runner-up last week in the Northern Trust Open, is that he immediately bounced  back with a birdie at the 17th and then pared the final hole in a round of 66, and still the best of the day despite his misadventure at 15, to end at nine under par.

Moments later Spain’s Sergio Garcia two-putted for birdie at 18 in a score 67 to end the day tied with Scott and set up a final head-to-head showdown between two close friends.

Good friends Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott but also tied for the lead with a round to play in the Honda Classic. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

And the pair could not be more evenly matched.

If you take away Scott’s historic 2013 Masters triumph the Australian and Spaniard are so very similar.

Scott is aged 35, having been born in July 1980, while Garcia is a few months older after being born in Castellon in January the same year.

Both commenced their international career on the European Tour with Scott having won 26 times around the globe while Garcia has captured 27 events including seven PGA Tour titles and the last being the 2012 Wyndham Championship, and in the very week after qualifying for the 2012 European Ryder Cup side.

The only real contrast is that Scott has a good history of winning early in a season with Scott having enjoyed some seven victories in a New Year ahead of the staging of the Masters while Garcia has had just one victory, the 2014 Qatar Masters, as his only success before the year’s first Major.

Adam Scott (AUS) during round 3 of the Honda Classic, PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. 27/02/2016.
Picture: Golffile | Fran Caffrey
All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Fran Caffrey)

Now the pair will go out in the final round putting friendship aside as they strive to get their hands first on the $US 1,098,000 first prize cheque.

“I think we’re both pretty desperate to have a win (Sunday) after putting ourselves in this position, so hopefully we’ll put on a good show,” said Scott, whose last victory came two years ago, after a 66 in capturing the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

However the main talking point on day three was Scott’s quadruple bogey on 15.

“I hit a 6-iron on the first shot and just ballooned it up in the air,” he said.

“I struggled to get there obviously. Yeah, I think it was like 121 from the back of the drop zone or 117 from the front of it, and went to the front and I don’t know, hit a good one shot (shrugging shoulders), and just I guess the wind never really touched it. It wasn’t low or anything. It was looking pretty good to me. Wind must have laid down a little bit. Just one of those ones where it’s the wrong time to make an error, especially with the first shot, I mean. That’s the real error. And to compound it is not good, so pretty costly, but fortunately, had a couple shots to spare.

“Hopefully it won’t cost me too big in the grand scheme of things.”

On the next hole, Scott pulled his tee shot way left — admittedly a by-product of what had just happened on 15 — but made a resilient par. Then at the par-4 17th, Scott hit 6-iron again, this time to 9 feet, and made the putt for birdie.

It was the kind of bounce back that could go a long way on Sunday.

“I think I’ve experienced things along those lines plenty of times in this game,” he said. “And you know, really didn’t hit too many bad shots to make a 7. That’s how challenging holes like 15, 16 and 17 are. I grinded out a 4 on 16 after a sloppy tee shot, and then back to hitting really good shots on 17.

“It’s what you have to do to stay in golf tournaments. It could easily fall apart, and go from a commanding position to struggling to be in the tournament tomorrow. That’s what you have to do, just keep grinding until the round’s over.”

For his sake, the tournament wasn’t over. There’s still another day.

Likewise for Garcia. Despite falling as many as three back and missing a 5-footer for par on 13 and making bogey on 17, he birdied the par-5 18th for a respectable 67.

It has been four years since Garcia won on the PGA Tour but then he did capture the 2014 Qatar Masters title while last November wrote himself into Asian Tour records in capturing the first Ho Tram Open in Vietnam.

“There’s something that I don’t like, and when I hear guys say, oh, yeah, you won — yeah, you won in Vietnam or you won in Qatar, but you haven’t won on the PGA Tour he said. “It feels like, you know, those wins don’t mean anything, and you know, it’s such a wrong comment.

“Every win, every victory is difficult. It doesn’t matter, even if it’s against your father on your home course. Every single victory is tough. There’s a lot of great players out in the world today, and you know, the victory in Vietnam wasn’t easy. I had to play well to get that. And the victory in Qatar, same thing.

“A win is a win. It doesn’t matter where it is. To me at least, they all mean a lot, and a PGA TOUR win doesn’t mean more than others. They all mean a lot.”

They just haven’t always come when they looked like they would. Will that again be the case Sunday at PGA National?

“I think we both will be wanting it badly if it gets to that, and hopefully it will get to that,” Garcia said. “We’ll see what happens. At the end of the day, what I have to do is go out there and keep playing well, give myself a shot at it, and you know, then destiny will tell us.”