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IN the most modest way, Adam Scott was in awe of himself yesterday. He boomed four fairway-splitting drives of such length mid-round that you imagined he was flexing Superman's biceps.
The king of Augusta was a mild-mannered golfer making five straight pars yesterday before he must have slipped into his green Masters cloak behind a gum tree at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast.
In a blur, three straight birdies ignited the chase for runaway American leader Rickie Fowler (63) and guaranteed the Australian PGA would get the dream duel at the top of the leaderboard that the tournament had counted on.
More than that, those blasts with the driver on the 6th to 9th holes all bounded over 300m and put a jaw-dropping vibe through a mesmerised gallery that swelled to over 1500 fans at times.
On the 10th, his with-the-wind curling strike over the water carried 320m while leftie Richard Green was 100m back down the fairway having played more conservatively off the tee.
When the world No.2 stroked in his sixth birdie of the day from 2m on the last under perfect blue skies it elevated him to a six-under-par 65, in second spot with Gold Coaster Matthew Ballard and Victorian David McKenzie.
There was a hint of Greg Norman in his pomp when Scott analysed a round he called "just plugging away" but for the moments he ripped his one wood.
"It was a bit of a driving display. The driving was basically flawless and the best I've driven the ball since the (British) Open in July," Scott said.
"I was solid elsewhere, not the most exciting round ... just plugging away and playing fairly safe to greens that firm. It all added up (on the scorecard) pretty well."
To fans watching, he did it so effortlessly with barely a hiccup except for his too cute chip slip-up on the 10th when a birdie beckoned after another prodigious drive.
He chastised himself so the steely edge was definitely there beneath the surface of a round he had to play amidst constant adulation.
"It's not hard to enjoy people applauding you," Scott said with a grin.
But that's the conundrum Scott has had to sort through since the Masters - how to stay in that controlled aggressive state on course when everyone is cuddling you with goodwill from the gallery.
It was as if a backslapping convention had booked out the RACV Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast for the warmest of receptions to a returning golfer to Queensland since the Norman days.
One kid offered a high five off the green. Scott obliged of course. "Well done Adam" rang out warmly again and again to acknowledge Augusta glory seven months ago.
"I've played a lot of weeks in America where it was very similar with people congratulating me the whole way around the course for what happened at the Masters," Scott said.
"I've had to get used to that a little bit. I want the people to enjoy it but I've still got to remain focussed and I think I've done a pretty good job. I enjoy giving a kid a high five. That's just all good fun.
"I'm enjoying every minute of playing at home."
It steps again today. It's Green Day with every fan urged to wear green to honour Scott's drought-breaker at the Masters. Hats, shirts ... deck yourself out.
You see so many bland American pros, it's a delight to watch Fowler interract with his young fan base, sign any piece of clothing thrust his way and really "get" what growing the game is all about.
He's no private school product. He's a dirt-biking kid who grew up to play even better golf as his eight birdie blitz showed in his controlled 63.
He gets it too because when news broke last year of Aussie golfing mate Jarrod Lyle's second leukaemia battle, he inked "JL" on his caps, sent cards of support and thought deeply about an issue bigger than golf.
Scott and Fowler going birdie for birdie on the weekend deserves to stir a 15,000-strong throng of fans marching the fairways. You don't sense the Scott aura as fully when you just watch on TV. This is live sport worth watching up close.
Pre-tournament, Scott said the pressure of never having won a big Australian tournament was a monkey off his shoulders since his 2009 Australian Open and 2012 Talisker Masters victories.
This was a different yet significant pressure. Forget the other 154 players in the field. Everyone had come to see a glimpse of Australia's champion. He knew it too which might have explained his nerves on the first tee in his homecoming event.
"I was pretty nervous on that first tee. I haven't been that nervous for a long while," Scott said.
"No matter how little pressure you put on yourself you want to play well, you want to perform in front of family and friends. You're a competitor."
Royal Pines is not Royal Melbourne or Royal Sydney. It is a resort course of wide avenues between the trees.
Fowler, the world No.43, surged home with a six-under 29 on the back nine climaxed by a chip-in birdie on his final hole, the tough 460m par four ninth where Ballard and McKenzie, the evergreen 46-year-old, bogeyed.
Fowler's round is the new course record in the par 71 layout for the course.
McKenzie is on a roll he hopes can continue. He won a VW Golf car for a hole in one at the recent Perth International and lucked into a Melbourne Cup quinella on Tuesday that paid wife Mai Roberge a tidy $600 for a $3 outlay.
