ASSOCIATED PRESS Adam Scott and his gallery watched his drive on No. 3 yesterday at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui.

Third round boosts Scott’s confidence

KAPALUA, Maui » Adam Scott may be ranked No. 4 in the world, but entering the Mercedes-Benz Championship, he conceded he wasn't playing like it.

Citing fatigue and in need of a long break, Scott pulled out of the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this week and said he was heading home to Australia to recharge his batteries. Considering how he played yesterday, it's too bad he can't reconsider that decision.

Sitting alone in seventh at the start of the third round, Scott shot into a tie for second with Trevor Immelman thanks to a blistering 4-under 69, including going 5 under on the back nine, to trail front-runner Vijay Singh by three shots.

Scott spent most of 2006 flirting with greatness, before finally sealing the deal with a win at the season-ending Tour Championship. A month later, Scott played like he had never seen a bag of clubs at Tiger Woods' Target World Championship, where he opened with an 80. John Daly was the only person keeping him from finishing last in the invitation-only tournament.

"The Tour Championship meant a lot and capped off what was a good year," Scott said. "I think if I hadn't won an event last year, it would have been very disappointing. But it all came together at the end, and it just happened that I needed to put four rounds together. And that's probably what I didn't do earlier in the year even though I had some good results."

But from there, it got a little dicey for the 26-year-old. He played two events in Australia, before flying back to California to compete in Woods' get-together. That didn't leave him feeling good about his game, although he seems to be moving in a better direction.

"I played terribly all week there and I don't know how I managed to shoot a good score on the weekend," Scott said. "It was the end of the year and I think my mind had gone on holiday. I don't know what was going on over there. At least I didn't embarrass myself over the weekend."

Scott has done nothing to embarrass himself here. After opening with a ho-hum 73 on Thursday, he rallied with back-to-back 69s to put him in the final group with Singh, who has been close here several times, including finishing twice to three-time defending champion Stuart Appleby.

For Scott to keep Singh from winning the Mercedes for the first time in 11 tries, he'll need to put together another good 18 holes. He opened yesterday's round by going 1 over on the more difficult front nine, including consecutive bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8. He had a chance to right the ship at the par-5 ninth, but had to settle for a 5 heading to the back nine.

It was at the par-4 12th that he began to put it together with a birdie. Scott managed three in a row at Nos. 14 through 16, before birdieing the last despite hitting his second shot into the bunker guarding the 18th green.

"It's going to be difficult to catch Vijay tomorrow," Scott said. "He has always played well here."

That could be, but he hasn't been able to get a win, and that may weigh heavily on his mind as Immelman and Scott try to track him down. Scott said earlier this week that despite some recent problems, he could still find himself in time to be competitive here.

"I haven't struck the ball like the No. 4 player in the world should," Scott said. "But, once I get out there and get into the swing of things, I should be fine. I just slipped into a bit of a bad habit at the Australian PGA and I didn't get it fixed before Tiger's event. So I spent four days swinging worse and worse, and somehow it ingrained itself and it's taken me 10 days of practice to get back on track."

How much that helps him today remains to be seen. But given Singh's history here of close without a win, Scott could be a solid round away from winning the opening tournament of the year.