Adam Scott walked onto the first tee for his afternoon hit-off at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, saw Jason Day's seven-under-par 63 round on top of the leaderboard, and thought 'It's go time'.
Having already made the conscious decision to go hell for leather out of the gate in this event, Day's bogey-free early morning romp through Firestone Country Club turned a grassfire in Scott's belly into an inferno.
The result was a blemish-free eight-under-par 62 and the outright lead, one ahead of fellow Queenslander Day and three ahead of American Nick Watney at five-under.
As the world watched Tiger Woods mark his comeback to golf with a solid but not spectacular two-under 68, the Australians stole the show.
"My whole intention this week was to be aggressive right from the start and put myself in the tournament from Thursday and not have to kind of chase from Friday and Saturday onwards just to get into it," Scott said.
"I was surprised to see Jason's score and I thought seven under was pretty low.
"But you know, there were so many other good scores. I knew if I could play well and get that putter going today, there was a good score out there for me.
"It was green light and just attack."
Scott, a seven-time winner on the US PGA Tour, admitted his approach hasn't been anywhere near aggressive enough in recent times.
His 62 is the lowest first round score in the Bridgestone Invitational's 13-year history.
"I think I've done it (be aggressive from the outset) less in the last few years than I did a long time ago," he said.
"I just feel like I need to show up and go, not show up and see how you get on the first nine."
With Steve Williams, Woods' former caddy, now on Scott's bag full-time, the round gave the Kiwi looper early bragging rights over his former boss.
"Yeah, I'm sure he feels good about today," Scott said smiling.
Williams was on the bag for Woods' seven wins in this event previously leaving Scott to joke his round was old hat.
"Stevie didn't think it was a big deal to shoot 62. It was normal," he laughed.
"But he just seems to have a lot of good rounds in him around this place, that's for sure.
"I think he really understands how to manage a game well around the golf course and he's got a few little notes in his yardage book about breaks on greens and stuff like that.
"I think he believes in my game, that I can be one of the best players in the world and I think he thinks he can help me achieve that, and I believe that, too."
Scott is just one from seven on the US PGA Tour when leading after the opening round, prompting a decision to continue his attacking philosophy.
"You've got to judge the conditions a little bit and if it gets tough, then I might have to hold back a little bit, but if it's like this tomorrow and I'm feeling good, I'm going to keep going," he said.
"I feel like Jason will attack and, if not him, someone else will.
"Everyone is playing pretty good and if it's like this the next four days, it's going to be low scoring around here and I'm going to have to get on the gas."
