Adam has drive to break record

Adam Scott follows through on a bunker shot at the 2013 Tour Championship tournament in Atlanta. Source: Jason Getz / AP

POWER-striking Masters hero Adam Scott has been tipped to set a new course record 62 at Royal Pines, where a drivable 280m par four is to be set up to spike crowd excitement at the Australian PGA.

Gold Coast-based Victorian pro Steve Jones predicted Scott could make the course-best 63 redundant with a light breeze, a hot round with the putter and the 2013 precision he has used to win three titles and more than $5 million in prizemoney.

The 193cm Jones, one of Australia's longest drivers off the tee with recorded 300m-plus drives, relished the plan to shorten the 344m eighth into a feature hole where the field could attempt to smote the ball to the green with a single blow for an eagle putt.

Scott is sure to go for broke there.

His drawing drive, by bunkers, to the green at the 343m par four fourth hole, when the tournament was at Palmer Coolum Resort in 2011, was one of the more remarkable shots of that week.

Thursday's opening round is likely to pitch crowd magnet Adam Scott and American Brandt Snedeker, the world No.9, into a feature afternoon three-ball.

"I've probably played Royal Pines as often as anyone in the field. It'll play harder than many people think but a guy who hits it phenomenal like Adam Scott can break that 63 if conditions are right," Jones said.

"Ask most pros and they love courses with a short, drivable par four with that real risk-reward factor. It's a great idea for the tournament."

Andrew Langford-Jones, director of tournaments for the PGA of Australia, has spent 12 months nutting out ways to raise the adrenalin of entertainment with course tweaks on the largely flat Gold Coast layout of wide avenues between the trees.

"There is a new tee block in play on the eighth where we can shorten the hole to around 280m which is definitely a plan for one round to give the players a drive at the green," Langford-Jones revealed.

Tweaking the eighth is a forerunner to a permanent change when the earthmoving equipment of course architect Graham Marsh gets active in February.

"We'll pull the green forward closer to the water, put gallery mounds behind the green and play it, say, 280m off the forward tee block to create an exciting stadium hole with the most powerful club in a player's hand," Marsh said.

With the ninth's switch from a birdie-friendly par five to a par four, the course will play as a par 71, rather than the regular 72, so the best round of the event will stand as the new course record.

Cameron Percy, who played on the PGA Tour in the US, said yesterday's 40km/h wind gusts during a practice round were a strong defence for the course as well as the firm greens.

"The fans want to see guys ripping the driver not playing a hole with three iron and wedge so I'm all for a short par four because we are basically entertainers," Percy enthused.

"Scotty could shoot a 62 with the way his golf swing and confidence are right now but I reckon I fixed only one pitch mark on a green all round because they are so firm."

Scott will likely play practice holes today before showing off his fabled Masters green jacket for tonight's traditional Dinner With The Stars scene-setter at the Royal Pines resort.

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