Adam Scott rang off four consecutive birdies and shot a 5-under-par 65 in the first round of the Wyndham Championship on Thursday, not far from the position required to crash the FedEx Cup playoff starting next week.
Scott missed a four-foot birdie at the Wyndham Championship in 2023 to snap his 16-year streak of reaching the playoff.
He said he felt more "motivation" than pressure taking the course knowing he likely requires a two-way tie for third or better to have a reason to fly to Memphis for the FedEx St Jude next week.
Scott addressed his mindset heading into the tournament.
"I'm going to need to get like 20-under to think of anything, so I better not be 1-under through day one or I'm going to leave myself a lot of work, so nice to make a few birdies," Scott said.
"And of course as much as I think about moving on, I'd like to win this tournament, so that's – it's a similar kind of scenario for me."
Starting his round at the 10th hole, Scott turned in an uneven opening nine with two bogeys and three birdies.
He clicked after making the turn, including a run of four consecutive birdies to climb the leaderboard.
On the par-4, 426-yard fourth (Scott's 13th hole in Round 1), he rolled home a birdie putt bending it back to the right from below the hole.
At No 5, Scott stayed with the short stick from well off the front of the green with his third shot.
From nearly 60 feet out, he rolled the ball to a stop inside of two feet for the tap-in birdie and carded two more birdies at Nos. 6 and 7 to briefly jump into a tie for third.
Perhaps his best shot of the day was the 33-foot putt at the par-3 seventh. It was his seventh birdie of the round.
"You know, the back nine is the easier nine here. I was trying to stay patient," Scott said.
"I wasn't too concerned about a bit of a slow first nine holes as long as I did put it into gear on the next. And I managed to, you know, I'm in that spot I can't be too patient, I have to have a go of a few things. I was trying to remind myself of that when I was picking targets out there to be as aggressive as I can."
By the time he signed his scorecard, Scott and playing partner Jordan Spieth were tied for fifth and two back of the leaders.
Scott has two top-10 finishes at Sedgefield.
He didn't play last year after taking second at the Scottish Open and tying for 10th in the Open Championship.
This season has been more of a grind. Scott, who celebrated his 45th birthday two weeks ago, is still chasing his first top-10 in 2025.
He last had a top-10 in 2024 at the BMW Championship, where he tied for second.