Adam Scott one from the lead at Wentworth
Adam Scott – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
Adam Scott has made an impressive start to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, an opening round of 5 under 67, having the 46-year-old in a share of third place and just one behind the joint leaders, Aaron Rai and Joakim Lagergren.
Scott played in the afternoon field and day one, but tomorrow will be in one of the early groups out from the 9th tee (half of the field begin their rounds at the 9th) and so gets the opportunity to build on what has been a fine start to the US$9 million event.
Scott reached the first of the two par-5 finishing holes at Wentworth at 5 under par and seemingly in a position to either join or take the opening round lead, but at the demanding driving hole hit his tee shot out of bounds at the 17th and, in the end, did well to lose only one shot. He would, however, hit his second to the last to 5 feet, and although he missed the eagle attempt, the birdie moved him to just one of the lead.
Scott is playing this event for the 11th occasion, but in the main his record is rather ordinary for one of his standards, with just one top ten in those starts, but he is clearly playing well, and perhaps slightly easier conditions on Friday morning might see him in or near the lead heading into the weekend.
“I played really, really solid,” said Scott. “I would say for sure one of my best rounds, tee to green this year. Not really sure why, just a nice tee shot off the first, kind of calmed any nerves and then went about my business from there. It’s a nice way to play Wentworth when there’s low stress. So three to go.
“I mean, a bit more of that kind of golf would be fantastic, but I know I’m going to have to dig deep to hang in there this week. We’ve always known driving to be a strength of yours in your game, but it felt like it was particularly solid with maybe the exception of today. Yeah, it was.
“You know, I put a new driver in earlier this week. Mine kind of broke leading into here. So a new one went in and that’s working nicely. But it is the key to Wentworth. If you’re in the fairway, you can create some opportunities. If you’re not, it’s a long day out there.
“It’s a nice way to finish. It would have been great to make the putt, but it was a bit of a bit of a slider and I kind of hit it a bit too weak. But, you know, keep making swings like that. As I said, the opportunities will come. I can take a few. And, you know, to be in the mix here on Sunday would be so fantastic. It’s one of my favourite events. Love being here. So I’d love to have a shot at it.”
A massive 79 golfers are under par on the magnificent West Course layout at the completion of day one, but only six shots separate those players.
Ryan Fox played in the morning field with Aaron Rai and Rory McIlroy and was 4 under through 14 holes before a bogey at his 17th hole, then finishing off with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 8th (his final hole of the day).
Kazuma Kobori opened with a round of 2 under 70, Daniel Hillier and David Micheluzzi had 71, and Elvis Smylie, in his first event for three months, had 3 over 75.
