Down Under in Ohio
DUBLIN, Ohio — When Adam Scott was on autopilot, he was racking up the birdies. It was only when he started thinking about just how low he could go that his run at a magical 59 turned to vapor.
Scott matched his career low with a 10-under 62 — he was 9 under through the first 12 holes — to grab a one-stroke lead Friday after the second round of the Memorial Tournament.
"I didn't know what it (the course record) was, but I figured 59 was probably going to be it if I got there," Scott said.
Scott's 62 was the lowest round of the day by five shots.
"Adam obviously played amazing today," said fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley, who shot a 68 to tie for third place. "Eleven birdies — that's pretty impressive."
Tiger Woods, left in the dust by a full 10 shots through 36 holes, said Scott is as good as anyone.
"You know, he's won two pretty good tournaments in The Players Championship and the Tour Championship. He just hasn't seemed to have contended in majors," Woods said. "But, hey, he's still young. He's got all the talent in the world."
Scott had his chances — certainly at matching the course-record 61 set by John Huston in 1996, and possibly even the PGA Tour mark of 59 held by Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval.
Scott missed a 4-foot birdie putt at No. 13, barely missed a lengthy birdie putt at 14 and had to settle for birdie at the 15th after hitting his second shot on the par-5 hole to 8 feet.
He picked up his only bogey at 16 after hitting his approach on the par-3 hole into the gaping bunker in front of the green, but then rolled in a 16-footer for birdie at the next hole before closing with a par.
The 26-year-old Scott, with five wins on the U.S. tour and seven overseas, said that as the birdies began to pile up, he started thinking about making history.
"On 13 I kind of put two and two together, if I make this 4-footer, then I'll be 10-under and I've got five holes (to make) three birdies. The way things were going, it was realistic with a par 5 in there," he said. "I think the only times I did something wrong was on those couple of putts where I thought about the outcome. That's what you can't do."
Scott said he never should have started figuring out scores in his head for what it would take to get to 59.
"I shouldn't be so good at math," he said with a laugh.
Rod Pampling, the first-round co-leader after a 65, shot a 68 and was a shot back at 11-under 133. He said he kept looking at the leaderboards, waiting for Scott to slow down, but was stunned by what he saw.
"I couldn't believe it," said Pampling, yet another Aussie. "He kept going, didn't he? He just didn't stop. He had the one hiccup on 16, but he obviously had it dialed in."
Baddeley and Bubba Watson, a Florida native who is the only non-Australian among the top four players, each shot a 68 to get to 10-under 134.
