Adam Scott wasn't quite as good as his record-tying start a year ago at Bay Hill. Then again, he's more interested in the finish of the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Australian atoned for a less-than-standard performance off the tee and had a 4-under 68, leaving him one shot behind a trio of early leaders on a warm Thursday.
Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak and Ken Duke each had a 67 to share the lead.
Scott was in the group with Brandt Snedeker, Henrik Stenson, Bill Horschel, Keegan Bradley and Harris English, who is No.52 in the world and trying to crack the top 50 in the next two weeks to get into the Masters.
Scott opened with a 62 a year ago and built a seven-shot lead going into the weekend until closing poorly to finish two shots behind.
That wasn't on his mind when he finished on Thursday. He was still thinking about the early years of struggling at Bay Hill.
"At times this course has been set up so difficult with firm greens and long rough that when you're playing bad, I embarrass myself out here, and that's the kind of memory that I had," he said.
"But still, it was good to get out here and put a good score on the board and get going, and hopefully stay somewhere near the lead."
This is the third tournament that Scott, who won the Masters two years ago with a long putter, used a conventional putter.
He contended at Doral and then ended his streak of 45 consecutive cuts when he missed the cut last week at the Valspar Championship. Scott missed four putts inside 5 feet in the second round last week.
The difference at Bay Hill was using a conventional grip for the longer putts and a claw version of the grip for the shorter putts. He attributed that mainly to the speed of the greens, saying it was difficult to get pace on the longer putts with a claw grip.
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