Scott Soars in Sydney during Opening Round of Australian Open


Adam Scott got off to a fabulous start in the Australian Open. The 33-year-old from Adelaide fired carded 10 birdies at Royal Sydney Golf Club for a course-record-setting 62 and a three-stroke lead over Canada's Ryan Yip and American John Young Kim.

Beginning play on the 10th tee, Scott birdied the first six holes on the back nine. He then carded eight straight pars before finishing off his day with four consecutive birdies, giving him all birdies from the par-3 sixth (his 15th hole of the day) through the par-4 15th. If he could have posted three birdies instead of three pars he would've carded a magical 59.

"I wasn't thinking about it hard but I knew (shooting 59) was a possibility. Having birdied the six holes I birdied, I felt like all the opportunities were still to come," he said. "So if I kept it going, and I had a good run around the turn, I felt it was on for sure."

Scott won the Australian PGA and Australian Masters earlier this month and teamed with Jason Day - who took the individual title - in last week's World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne to win the team component of that event. Scott's 62 sets him up for the "Scottie Slam," with victories in all four of his home country's biggest golf tournaments.

But, at this point, Scott isn't thinking about becoming the second player to win all three Australian majors, joining Melbourne native Robert Allenby, who accomplished the feat in 2005. "I'm off to a good start, but a lot of work to do yet," he said.

"It's been a long time since I shot a low round like this. It's a tough setup, but it was a perfect morning for it."

The great start helped propel Scott's early momentum. "The longest putt I had on those opening birdies was about five feet," he said of the round that broke the course record by three strokes. "I hit a lot of quality shots right out of the blocks this morning."

All Aussies follow Yip and Kim on the leaderboard, with David McKenzie (66) alone in fourth followed by Jason Norris, Aaron Baddeley, Jason Scrivener and Alistair Presnell, each carding 67s.

Kevin Streelman, who was paired with Matt Kuchar in the World Cup of Golf to help give the U.S. a second-place finish behind Day and Scott by 10 strokes, opened with a 70. Day also shot 70. Kuchar isn't playing this week.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pga.org.au/scores.