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IT was a dramatic collapse. Five gone in the blink of an eye. The trophy surrendered, perhaps, with the battle still in its first day.
Not Australia, Adam Scott. Not five wickets, five shots.
A horrendous quintuple bogey nine at the par four 12th hole during the first round of the World Cup at Royal Melbourne that was, from Scott, far more shocking than Australia's routine top order collapse.
A tee shot and a provisional ball both carved right into the tea tree. The first ball lost, the second unplayable. So Scott trudged back to the tee where he needed to hole out from 410 metres to salvage bogey. He came up short.
That walk back to the tee is familiar to the club hacker as the Australian batsmen's march back to the pavilion. But for the world No.2 it must have felt as unfamiliar as leaving a nightclub without being offered half a dozen phone numbers.
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Nine is usually the first figure on a prizemoney cheque for Scott, not a golf score. It was the highest number he had pencilled on his scorecard since an unsightly 10 at Doral six years ago.
Inevitably, Scott would sign for a four over 75. Eight more than in his first round on the same course at the Australian Masters one week ago. Only Jason Day's pleasing 68 stopped Australia from slipping lower than eighth in the team event.
''Two lazy swings,'' said Scott of two of three two-irons he hit from the 12th tee. ''Just off with the fairies.''
Perhaps that was a sign of fatigue given Scott's tremendous recent workload. Having won back-to-back tournaments for the first time and shouldered a mountain of media and promotional work, he was entitled to a momentary brain fade. Even if the punishment did not quite fit the crime.
Scott's dramatic blowout was part of an otherwise low key day at Royal Melbourne. An indication the World Cup had not yet captivated even that golf mad part of the planet in Melbourne's famed sand belt region.
Adam Scott emerges from the scrub seemingly without his lost ball during his opening round. Source: Getty Images
Tournament organisers IMG are promoting back-to-back events on the same course, a tough sell even with Scott's quest for a Summer Slam and Day's relatively rare home appearance. But the subdued atmosphere from the modest galleries did not do justice to the excellent golf from some top-line players in conditions far more difficult than last week when the greens were softened by rain.
American Kevin Streelman upstaged his more heralded countryman Matt Kuchar with a sometimes spectacular 66. He matched the mark set by Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn who ensured Denmark had a chance of tightening its traditional grip on world golf.
Not that there was any hint of patriotic fervour. A bone of contention about the new World Cup format was that, as teams events go, this is more like Formula One than Ryder Cup. Every man for himself, then tally the numbers at the end of the day.
Still searching, Adam Scott peers into the undergrowth as he hunts down his lost ball. Source: Getty Images
Scott and Day played two hours and eight minutes and eight holes apart wearing their regular sponsored shirts rather than team uniform. Not an arrangement that allowed for Ryder Cup-style high-fiving or which distinguished the event greatly from last week's Australian Masters.
The added emphasis on the individual prize has been justified by the World Cup's dwindling significance on a crowded calendar. But yesterday that seemed a bit like fighting the market dominance of vanilla ice cream by producing yet more vanilla ice cream.
Surely something could have been done to accentuate the World Cup's point of difference - a team battle for a once prestigious team trophy. Like the Ashes, except with Australia having some chance to win.
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