Scott has his gameplan set for final round

Joy Chakravarty 11:16 10/08/2014
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  • Making his move: Adam Scott shot a bogey-free round of 66.

    Despite grinding out a bogey-free round of 66 and making a move up the leaderboard, world No2 Adam Scott was under no illusion that he needed more of the same in the final round today to stand any chance of contending for his second major title at the PGA Championship.

    At a soggy Valhalla, the 34-yearold Aussie struggled to keep his ball in the fairway off the tee, but he still managed to make three birdies in his first five holes, and then added another two in his last four.

    The five-under par 66 took Scott to seven-under par 206 for the tournament, but the former world No1 knows he needs many more birdies if he has to catch Rory McIlroy, who was leading when Scott finished the round.

    The 2013 Masters champion said: “It was good solid round. Obviously to have no bogeys is good, but I probably left a couple out there. Seems like 4‑ or 5‑under is about even par today. I got off to a perfect start and just missed a couple good chances.

    "Could have been the putts, could have been the chips, but something needed to be a bit better there. I just hung in there. Even though my game was certainly not 100 percent, I managed to get around all right.

    “All my birdies today were from four feet and in. It’s doable out there, if you can get it in the fairway enough. I still didn’t get it in the fairway enough today.”

    But if he was frustrated that another good outing was not looking like translating into a win, Scott hid his emotions well. “That’s just how it is,” said Scott.

    “I mean, you can’t hit it good every week of the year. I do a good job generally of playing well at big events. It’s not going to happen every week for me. I’m just doing the best I can with maybe not my best game.

    “I need to do much better tomorrow. I’d love to be aggressive out there. But you have to firstly get it in the fairway to give yourself a chance to hit at pins. If you do, then you can be aggressive.”

    Also shooting 66 each were Sergio Garcia of Spain and Jamie Donaldson of Wales. It was important for Donaldson, who is ninth in the European Ryder Cup list, and is on the verge of qualifying for the team.

    The 2013 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship winner, who was at eight-under par 205, said he was focused on today’s final round and not thinking of the Ryder Cup.

    “It’s for me to play well and take control and sort it out this week. I’m just trying to go out there and play as well I can and shoot as low a score as I can. It’s one shot at a time and that’s all I can do,” he said.

    Earlier, Graeme McDowell had a Tin Cup moment which completely ruined what was turning out to be a very good round.

    The Northern Ireland star played a bogey-free with four birdies, but hit two balls into the water from the middle of the fairway and just 102 yards away for an ugly quadruple bogey eight on the 350-yard par-4 13th hole.

    A disappointed McDowell, who closed with an even-par 71, said: “I played beautiful this morning. It’s so disappointing to make an elementary quadruple bogey. It’s a card-wrecker, a tournament-wrecker, a weekend-wrecker.”

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