DUBLIN, Ohio - Here's Adam Scott, looming again.
And playing like the world's No. 1 ranking fits him well.
A week after rallying to win at the Colonial in his first tournament since passing Tiger Woods for the top spot in the World Golf Rankings, Scott sits three shots behind leader Bubba Watson at -9 heading into Sunday's final round at the Memorial after shooting a 68 in Saturday's third round.
Only a bogey on No. 18 Saturday -- Scott's first bogey since early in his second round Friday -- kept Scott from being really close to the top of the leader board.
Watson will know he's there. Going back to last week, Scott is 19 under in his last six rounds.
"I'm feeling better than last week," Scott said. "I took a lot of confidence out of winning."
Next week, Scott will make his first visit to Pinehurst No. 2 and prepare for the U.S. Open, which begins June 12. The way he's hitting fairways and knocking down long putts, he might go there with another trophy and another fat check; the winner's share here at Jack Nicklaus's tournament is more than $1.1 million.
An eagle at No. 15 Saturday put Scott at -10, and by the time he teed off at No. 16 he was alone in third place. He shot 69 Thursday and 70 Friday and came into the third round nine shots off the lead of Paul Casey.
Scott won consecutive events late last year at the Australian PGA Championship and the Talisker Masters on the Australian-New Zealand Tour. The last time he won on the PGA Tour before last week, last summer at the Barclay's, he finished tied for 53rd the following week.
Scott has four top 10 finishes in eight prior 2014 events, including last week's win and a third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
"It's satisfying, absolutely," Scott said of winning in the same week he achieved the top ranking. "But I think all the things I did leading up certainly helped put me in the right mindset to play well last week, and took a couple days for it to show up really on the weekend. But that's when it counts."
Here he is again. He started the final round last week as part of a seven-way tie for 11th place, two strokes behind a quartet of leaders. He enters Sunday three behind Watson, two behind Scott Langley and one behind his Sunday playing partner, Hideki Matsuyama.
"I'm really swinging the club well," Scott said.
And no one will be surprised if that continues -- and Scott keeps climbing the leader board -- on Sunday.
