" />
Adam Scott pulled off a seven-birdie blitz to move into contention for his first US PGA Tour win since 2016 at the Memorial Tournament in Columbus, Ohio today.
The 38-year-old Australian has found a rich vein of form this year after a poor 2018.
Scott hit a gorgeous eight iron in close at the par-four 18th hole and rolled in the putt for a 66 at the end of a day when he hit the ball with his famous purity, missing just two greens – one of those merely on the back fringe at the 17th.
Germany’s two-time major champion Martin Kaymer leads the event at 15-under through three rounds, with Scott outright second at 13-under and playing in the final group tomorrow. The Australian’s most recent victory on the US Tour was the Cadillac Championship three years ago.
Kaymer, who has not won a tournament anywhere since 2014, shot a 66 as well to retain his lead in a remarkable redemption story. Of course he is a former world No. 1 player who has not only won both the US Open and the US PGA Championship, but won the Players Championship and sunk the winning putt in the 2012 Ryder Cup for Europe.
As for Scott, his only mistake today was to three-putt from long range at the par-four ninth hole. But he made four birdies on the back nine, showing the benefits of his return to his brother-in-law Brad Malone as coach.
The 2013 Masters champion has had four top-10 finishes this season to push his world ranking back up to No. 26, after it dipped into the 70s in the middle of last year. He had 29 putts today without holing anything big. Asked afterward what had brought about his improvement, he said: “A little bit of hard work maybe. I don’t know. I felt okay the first two days and managed my mistakes. Today I felt better which is a positive going into the weekend.
“Look, I’d almost take that same round tomorrow with below-average putting, see how my chances stack up. But I’m going to need a really great round tomorrow.’’
Marc Leishman is also having a good week at Jack Nicklaus’ tournament, shooting a 69 today to be tied-15th, while Aaron Baddeley and Matt Jones are also inside the top 20.