Adam Scott knew he had to hang on at four-under coming down the stretch at Hoylake because he couldn’t let Rory McIlroy get away.
The world No 1 shot a best-of-the-day 31 for the front nine and then hung on in tricky conditions down the back nine for his 68, two behind the Northern Irishman.
“We definitely had the harder of the conditions, especially on the back nine, so it was important to stay in touch with Rory,” he said.
“We all know how low he can go and we can’t let him run away. He wins his majors by eight shots, after all.”
Scott ended up the only player in the afternoon wave in the top 12, with the wind much stiffer and against on much of the back nine.
“They were tricky winds, either dead against or in off the left,” he said.
“Often you get even a slight upslope and that’s a tricky shot to play because you’re trying to judge distance.
“I shouldn’t say it could have been better but it could have. I missed a couple of short ones, made a bit of a mess of 18 and didn’t really take advantage of the par fives, but I’m still close to Rory, which is what I wanted to be.”
He also hoped for strong winds to separate the field.
Scott admitted that Hoylake this year was “a focus for my team”.
“We’ve put a lot into all the majors this year, but we’ve been close here a few times now and the Claret Jug is such a big thing for me, so we’ve concentrated quite a bit on Hoylake this year.”
Justin Rose, playing in the same group, was content with a par 72, although bizarrely he didn’t have his driver until the third hole as his caddie had mixed up gifts he was giving to his friends.
“I discovered that the driver in my bag wasn’t mine, and later discovered it was in Bedford, but the guy who got it by mistake brought it up and I got it back before I had planned to use it today anyway,” he said.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson went out of bounds at the last for a closing bogey and a 74, but still was happy with his performance.
“The score sucks, but my game is as good as it’s been in a long time,” he said.
“It wasn’t a great score, but I’m encouraged as I was last year at the Open. I hit a lot of tremendous shots today and I feel it’s about to turn.”