Former Rebel Scott nets eagle, bundle of birdies at Augusta to tie for low round of day

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Adam Scott will take a 67 any day at Augusta National.

Doing it on moving day at the Masters made it that much better.

The Australian made up some serious ground on the Masters leaderboard Saturday after matching Angel Cabrera and Bubba Watson for low round of the day. Tied for sixth at 7-under-par 209, Scott is five shots behind leader Rory McIlroy.

"I felt like I played OK the first two days, just a little bit off," said Scott, a former UNLV standout. "But today, everything kind of fell into place. It was nice to get a bit of momentum going and keep it going for most of the round."

Cabrera, Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Bo Van Pelt also made big moves. Cabrera, the 2009 Masters champion, and Schwartzel are tied for second at 208 with K.J. Choi and Jason Day, and Van Pelt is eighth behind Scott and Luke Donald.

Going low is one way to climb the leaderboard. But Scott and Co. got a big assist from the guys who had been ahead of them, too. The final five groups Saturday were a cumulative 11 over, with only McIlroy and Choi shooting below par.

"I think there was a little bit less expectations because those (last groups) are always going to have a little bit more pressure than what we had," Schwartzel said. "No disrespect to them, but playing out in front there, I don't think you're going to go very far a lot of times unless you really get something going.

"It was almost nice to tee off where I did and sort of sneak in from behind."

Scott hasn't finished in the top 10 at the Masters since 2002, his first trip to Augusta National. But he arrived here full of confidence after a tie for sixth at Doral.

Then he opened with a 72 and played the front nine Friday at par before he finally got moving, playing the back nine in 2 under.

"I was just trying to not get frustrated with myself, because I was feeling so good," Scott said. "I think I did a good job of not getting frustrated seeing everyone go low, and just fighting the momentum out there."

Scott got rolling Saturday with a 12-foot birdie putt on the second hole. He picked up two more strokes before the turn, only to give one back on the 10th. But he holed a 30-footer on 11 for a birdie and eagled the par-5 13th. After two-putting from "100 feet almost" on the par-5 15th, Scott was at 8 under with three holes to play.

But Scott played those holes at 1 over.

Still, he can at least see the leaders.

"They always say the Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday. I've got to get myself there first," Scott said. "I've got still at least another solid nine holes to play before I've got a real chance."