The prospect of a second green jacket heading Down Under gathered momentum this morning after a sensational opening round from the Aussie contingent at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

With The Masters just three weeks away, Australia’s three highest-ranked players are finding form at the right time, with Jason Day (-6) Adam Scott (-5)  and Marc Leishman (-5) all hugging the top of the leaderboard at Bay Hill.

Day had the putter rolling hot after some difficult chips and could have shot anything after combining seven birdies and an eagle with a double-bogey and bogey.

“I think I played the par 5s 5-under, which is pretty good,” says Day. “I was driving it well, hitting my irons well and chipping and putting great, too.”

Scott continued his purple patch of form, firing a 67 without a blemish on his scorecard and looks to be the man to beat again this week. His 5-under start made it 14 rounds in the 60s out of his past 17 – incredible.

Scott is coming off back-to-back wins at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship. He also finished runner-up at Riviera the week before his two victories.

After six pars on the back nine to begin his day, Scott’s round was jumpstarted by an eagle on the par-5 16th after he hit this laser for his second shot:

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In his Wednesday press conference, Rory McIlroy joked that golf should drop the anchoring ban when asked about Scott’s recent success. And this morning, Scott’s short putter continued to sizzle. The scariest thing for his opponents? He shot 5-under while only hitting 10 greens in regulation.

Screen Shot 2016-03-18 at 8.52.27 amMeanwhile, five birdies from world No.29 Marc Leishman has him sitting alongside Scott in second place and primed for a second US PGA Tour win. Leishman, who missed last year’s Masters due to his wife Audrey being hospitalised with toxic shock syndrome, looks to be on a mission in 2016.

C’mon, Aussie!

Day 1 Scores:

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