MIAMI — A decade later, Adam Scott still knows exactly how to handle the Blue Monster.

On a breezy Saturday at Trump National Doral, the 45-year-old Scott turned back the clock with a bogey-free, 6-under 66, the low round of the day – so far – in the third round of the Cadillac Championship. It was the kind of composed, clinical performance that once made him a champion on this course – and, for a few hours at least, made him look like it again, too.

“Bogey-free around this course is really a good round,” said Scott, who stands at 3 under for the tournament after his round Saturday. “So luckily there was six birdies to go along with it, and it’s a good-looking score.”

The scorecard certainly didn’t look like that earlier in the week.

The 14-time TOUR winner opened with a rocky 76 on Thursday, undone in part by one of the most unusual mistakes of his career. After pulling his tee shot into the rough on the par-5 eighth, he unknowingly struck the wrong ball – a violation of Rule 6.3 that resulted in a two-stroke penalty. The error led to a double bogey and a round that never quite recovered.

“It’s such a silly thing to do,” Scott admitted. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever done it in my career. That's probably one of those things everyone ends up doing once. But an odd set of circumstances leading up to me not checking it, which I think I've done thousands of times. To take two lumps there was, is tough, especially as you sit here now in the weekend and thinking if you’re two (strokes) better you would be doing so well in the tournament.

“But golf can be cruel at times, and I've experienced plenty of other tough things on the course, and you just have to get on with it and do the best you can.”

What could have unraveled his week instead ignited a bit of a rally. The Aussie steadied himself with eight straight pars after the mishap, added a 71 in Friday’s second round, and arrived Saturday believing his game was better than his scores suggested.

“I feel like I’ve been playing better than my scores the first two days,” he said. “Kind of reassured myself I am today.”

That reassurance came early – and not by accident. Scott teed off in calmer morning conditions, a subtle but significant edge on a course where wind can turn survival into an art form.

“It was windy earlier today, but still being off early was an advantage probably,” he said. “Nice to take advantage of that.”

Even with the relative calm, Doral remains a brute. Water lurks on nearly every hole, and added length over the past decade has neutralized any modern distance gains. Scott knows that better than most.

“It’s a fine line between a really good round and a disaster out there,” he said. “So much water. … It’s just stretched it out to where whatever distance advantage we might have gained in the last 10 years, it’s negated.”

His solution Saturday was simple in theory, but demanding in execution: Drive it well, stay patient and let precision take over.

“Good ball-striking goes a long way and takes a lot of stress out of playing this golf course,” he said.

It’s a formula that worked here before – memorably so.

Scott is, in many ways, the last man standing from Doral’s previous era. His victory in 2016, when he stormed back from six shots down with 13 holes to play and closed with a 69 to edge Bubba Watson, remains the final PGA TOUR win recorded at this venue before its decade-long hiatus. The tournament may carry a new chapter now, but the echoes of that finish still belong to him.

Returning this week, Scott said the course feels strikingly familiar, both in design and in the demands it places on a player.

“I think it plays very similar to how we left it 10 years ago,” he said.

What’s changed, of course, is everything else.

Scott was a different man the last time he hoisted a trophy here. Now 45, he’s a father of three, balancing life on and off the course while continuing to chase a game that never quite stops evolving.

“My daughter was maybe 1 at the time, and now I have three kids,” he said. “A lot’s gone on away from the golf course. A lot’s gone on at the golf course, too. It’s been a decade of constantly trying to figure out the game. I'm happy to be out here doing it still.”

That perspective showed Saturday. There was no panic after Thursday’s misstep, no overreaction to a slow start. Just a steady climb back into red numbers. And when the wind began to rise in the afternoon, Scott was already in the clubhouse, his 66 looming larger with every gust.

“It’s going to be a little tougher out there this afternoon, for sure,” he noted.

He’s likely right.

From a two-shot penalty to a low round of the day, Scott’s week has already spanned the extremes. Now, with one round to play, the man who once conquered Doral from six shots back has quietly played his way into the conversation again.