Adam Scott leads the Australian Masters

Scott won the Australian Masters at nearby Kingston Heath in 2012 and at Royal Melbourne in 2013, but he’s lost in playoffs twice at Huntingdale – in 2002 and 2003.

A year-ending tour of Australia has become an unlikely launching pad to a season of triumph for a few of golf’s brightest stars, so Adam Scott is hoping his home courses can work their magic again for his own game.

Having settled on the claw grip after initially going cross-handed, Scott needed only 28 putts at Huntingdale Golf Club and enjoyed an early boost of confidence by draining a monster putt on his seventh hole, the 16th.

“Personally I’ve had a couple of close calls here in the past and it’s fun to be back here with the challenge of trying to go one better”, Scott said. “That’s nothing to take away from the Olympics, but I’m just not sure that they have got it quite dialed in with the format and might have missed an opportunity there to do something pretty special for golf”.

Scott’s regular bag-man, New Zealander Steve Williams, withdrew from the role full-time last year but has committed to “nine or 10” events next year, the Australian said.

The 22-year-old Californian, who attended Southern Methodist University, won both the U.S. Amateur and the collegiate NCAA Division I championship this year, only the fifth golfer to achieve that feat. The others were Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore.

“He’s had a really successful summer, and then after a bit of an average start today, he’s clawed it back and he seems to have everything under control”, Scott said of DeChambeau. “I think that could have generated a few real electricity”, he added. “It’ll just be pretty exciting being a professional playing in the event”. It’s his second trip to Melbourne this year after playing in an amateur event at Royal Melbourne in January, and he’s entered in next week’s Australian Open in Sydney.

Among the prominent afternoon starters on day one are Australians Steven Bowditch and John Senden and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.