For surely, somewhere along the line, his stunning run of birdies and near subjugation of a championship golf course would come to a halt.

And yet, we dared to dream. For there he was pumping his fist and looking like the Adam Scott of 2013, the one who roared “C’mon Aussie” and rode gold fever into a green jacket.

On the 14th hole (his fifth) he hit a pure 3-iron from 217m, a drawing, searing bit of kit that asked of the southerly ‘you call that a southerly?’ The scoreboard man and I exchanged a look and shook our heads in unison. How the hell about that.

Scott’s ever been capable of this powerful artistry. And long have we cooed. But our love has been largely unrequited. One Australian Open, Adam? One Major championship? It’s not right. It can’t be a thing.

Min Woo Lee had sucked all the oxygen from this week’s media ecosystem and there was a feeling of coronation of Australian golf’s Next Big Thing. It was like Lee was the new version of Scott, a younger one, and better, with cooler clothes and fast-twitch muscle fibres. 

It was like when Greg Inglis retired and all the life forces seemed to flow into Latrell Mitchell. Lee appeared more vigorous and even – and it seems unbelievable to even think – better looking than Scott. Certainly Scott's clothing is baggier and daggier; Lee's kit looks custom-fit for a flat-bellied karate man. 

Adam Scott's ball-striking was pure all day at The Australian ... until it wasn't. PHOTO: Golf Australia

The night before Scott had said that pressure on the front-runners – Yoo-hoo Min Woo! Look out Lucas! - could be a thing. Was it like Tiger Woods applying old man Earl’s green beret VC interrogation tactics?

It was not.

But Nice Adam had planted an ear-worm that, apparently, only Joaquin Niemann and Rikuya Hoshini could not hear.

When Scott teed off the 10th it was clear that he could still draw a crowd, people who wondered, as Golf Australia magazine did, if he could make a passion-fuelled power-play and charge up the leaderboard.

He was only five shots from top billing. If he shot 64 and got to 15-under and the southerly turned into a buster in the afternoon, good luck running him down, Flat-bellies.

And so it began. Scott birdied 14 and got to 9-under. He drilled an 8-iron on 15 and got to 10-under. He bombed driver downtown on 16, stiffed a wedge and made a 10-foot putt and roared into the tournament’s top-5, and the unofficial party hole went up as one.

Coronate that, bitches, he probably didn’t think. But a little hoverboard of momentum carried him to the 17th tee.

He was perhaps still riding it when a blocked drive begat a baseball swing and a lay-up. He made the green and set free a quick and twice-breaking downhill putt that somehow lipped out. But it said much for his round that even his bogey looked pretty.

He blocked driver on 18, threaded a wedge through the canopy, stiffed another one to 12 feet and made another birdie, his fourth in five holes, and the hill punters roared. C'mon!

Up the hill he walked through the fans on bean bags, sitting on 11-under, two off the pace and with nine holes to tear this golf course another bottom.

He birdied three. He birdied four! He joined the lead at 13-under! There was a downwind par-5 to come. And he went at it.

He bombed driver. He smoked a three-iron, a beautiful, searing, drawing bit of kit, you couldn’t hit it in a dream. It stopped on the front of the big green.

And then he three-putted. Wrote down a five, effectively a bogey-par. He quietly but firmly chastised himself. Shit.

Was the Scott charge over there? It was not! He pulled a drive, hit the lower half of the sixth green and made a mighty bomb of a putt. Then he punched his fist and said “C’mon!” And Australia rode with him into 14-under and the outright lead. He was walking on air.

And then it all went to hell.

Adam Scott' strikes another iron stiff at The Australian on Sunday. PHOTO: Getty Images.

He snap-hooked driver out of bounds. He chopped his fourth shot to the front. He chipped on and putted twice and wrote down triple-bogey.

Had that ended it?

Yes. Yes it had.

Scott kept on fighting. He nearly birdied the tough 8th. He parred the 9th into the wind. He finished 11-under. He’d hit one bad hook. He walked off and into the scorer’s hut and media chat-zone, and remained, as ever, unflustered.

"It’s too hard to know exactly what to make of it," Scott said of his round. "Obviously it doesn’t look very good, but bad swing on one of the hardest holes and it’s cost me a chance.

"What did I have, about a 5 per cent chance teeing off today? So it’s hard to be really upset at myself. I did a lot of good stuff to even make it interesting for myself. So that was fun, looking on the positive note."

Adam Scott acknowledges the fans after his 3-under 68. PHOTO: Getty Images

Scott said that on arrival at the 7th tee he was thinking only of banking a score.

"I was really just thinking of getting it in the house. Okay, eight's a good chance today [downwind], but seven and nine are very, very strong holes.

"So, it wasn’t like I was pushing harder to birdie the last three or anything, I was just trying to play some good golf coming in," Scott said.

Playing good golf has never been Scott's problem. Doing it under the pump has been, on occasion.

And while he's not in Greg Norman at Augusta territory for broken dreams, his business with the Australian Open remains unfinished. And he’s running out of Sundays.