By T.J. Auclair
Special to PGATOUR.com

ATLANTA -- One of his ugliest shots of the tournament may just be the one that ends up winning Adam Scott his first TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

Playing East Lake’s 495-yard, par-5 15th hole Saturday, Scott had 213 yards left for his second shot from the middle of the fairway. With a 3-iron in his hands, Scott caught the ball thin and watched in disgust as the low-hit shot sailed toward the green. To his delight, it skidded across the fairway and rolled up to within 3 feet of the hole, setting up a relatively easy eagle putt.

The 26-year-old Australian calmly canned the putt to move to 7-under par, and will take a comfy three-shot lead over Vijay Singh and Joe Durant into Sunday’s final round.

“I couldn’t see it,” Scott said of his surprising shot. “When I hit it, I just thinned it and I thought it would be short, but it was right on line. It was going right where I was aiming and I guess it took some good bounces. Just one of those things, (that’s) golf.

“On 11, I hit probably the best shot of the day I could hit with a 6-iron and I thought it was going in the hole,” Scott continued. “It comes up short in the bunker face. It’s unexplainable.”

Before leaving the course, Scott joked about what he’ll say to Vijay Singh when the two step on the first tee Sunday.

“I’m going to remind him about Thursday at Akron (the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational when the two were paired together) this year when he shot 74 and I shot 63,” said Scott, jokingly. “I don’t want to give him too much motivation, though.”

NOT CRAZY ABOUT PAR: Although he’s just three shots off the lead, Joe Durant wasn’t too pleased with the even-par 70 on Saturday that extended his streak of rounds at par or better to 16.

The winner of the FUNAI Classic at WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort was brilliant on the front side, negating a bogey on the third hole with two birdies to close the outward nine in 1-under par. Durant looked poised to challenge his playing partner -- Scott -- for the Sunday lead. However, costly bogeys at Nos. 13, 16 and 17 canceled out birdies at the 12th and 15th holes.

“I didn’t play particularly well today,” Durant said. “My swing didn’t feel very good. I was going over the top a lot of my shots. You need to drive it well here and I didn’t drive it with any kind of conviction today, really. I was more or less just guiding it around, really. I hung in there, shot even par. Maybe I can figure it out between today and tomorrow and shoot a little better round tomorrow.”

NO SWEAT: During the third round of THE TOUR Championship, East Lake played by far the easiest its played this week. Saturday produced 12 sub-par rounds, highlighted by Vijay Singh’s tournament-best, 5-under-par 65, which, incredibly, included a bogey at the first hole.

Only six players broke par in the first round, while eight did so in the second.

LONELY LOVE: For the third consecutive round at THE TOUR Championship, Davis Love III will have the first tee time and will play by himself.

Because of the odd-numbered field (27), a single is necessary. Love shot a 12-over-par 82 in the first round and followed it up with two 1-over-par 71s. He is currently in last place.