Adam Scott had a feeling that he would shoot a low round at some point this week.
After all, he has played solid golf over the past month. A runner-up at the Scottish Open, a top-10 at The Open, and a top-20 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship had the Aussie trending in the right direction ahead of this week’s BMW Championship. But nobody could have foreseen him shooting a 9-under 63 on Friday and taking a commanding 36-hole lead—except for Scott.
In fact, he posted a new course record at Castle Pines.
“Actually, I did in the practice rounds,” Scott said when asked if he envisioned this course yielding a 63.
“I thought everyone would be going low, and then it played a bit tougher yesterday… But after the rain yesterday, [the greens are] a bit softer. You can definitely attack. If you’re on, guys should be going at pins.”
That said, Scott did not feel like he had the best range session before Friday’s round—a funny circumstance, considering he posted the lowest round of his season.
“Today, leaving the range, [I did not feel] quite in rhythm. I think it’s quite a hard range to get a good feeling for how you’re hitting it because the driver comes out, and it’s like running along the ground and hitting straight up the mountain. It’s a funny feeling,” Scott explained.
“But I settled down out there, and then a couple of putts went in, and I could find my rhythm a little bit. But it’s a great round. I think I took advantage of good conditions this morning and hopefully set myself up to have a real run at this thing on Sunday now.”
After birdieing the first hole, a par-5 that has played as the second-easiest hole so far this week, Scott drained a 10-footer for birdie on the 5th. He then poured a birdie putt from 15 feet on the most challenging hole on the course, the par-4 6th, and suddenly, Scott sat at 7-under and was in sole possession of the lead.
He made six more birdies over his final 11 holes to move up to 13-under at the midway point. He said his best shot of the day came at the par-3 16th.
“I didn’t play overly aggressive, but I think I executed well,” Scott said.
“I putted very well today.”
Scott gained 4.67 strokes on the greens on Friday, leading the field by a wide margin. He made almost everything except for a 32-footer on the 18th that just slid past the cup.
“When I got to [7-under], I was like, ‘This is a good round now,’” Scott said.
“Then, on the last, I wanted to aim right at the pin and hit a 9-iron close. 10-under sounded like it had a nice ring to it. But the old wise head on the shoulders said to aim a little bit left and see if you can hole a long putt. It’s fun to shoot a low round. It’s been a long time. I can’t remember the last time I shot a 63 out here. But it feels good to go low, that I still have that in me. Hopefully, there’s one more this week.”
Scott has not won a PGA Tour event since the 2020 Genesis Invitational. A win this week would mark the 15th win of his illustrious PGA Tour career.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
