PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Adam Scott was in cruise control.
Then the “Bear Trap’’ happened.
There’s a large rock with a plaque on it at the 15th tee that serves as a monument to begin the three-hole stretch of Nos. 15, 16 and 17 called the “Bear Trap’’ on PGA National’s championship course.
“It should be won or lost right here,’’ reads the inscription on the plaque.
And so it might.
There still is Sunday’s final round to play at the Honda Classic, where Scott and Sergio Garcia are tied for the lead at 9-under, but it’s possible the affable Australian lost the tournament on that hole Saturday in a dizzying quadruple-bogey implosion.
Scott stood next to that rock and plaque at 12-under par with a three-shot lead, and by the time he walked to the 16th tee he was 8-under, one shot behind Garcia.
Scott led Garcia by three shots and promptly flared his 6-iron tee shot into a lake to the right. He hit another ball in the water, this time landing it on the bank as the ball bounced into the hazard.
On his third try, from the drop area, Scott landed on the green, lying five before he drew his putter from the bag. His putt for triple bogey rimmed out off the right lip, leaving him with an improbable quadruple-bogey 7. In 2011, Scott took an 8 on that hole in the opening round.
With a Garcia par to stay at 9-under, he walked to the 16th tee with one-shot led over Scott in a remarkable four-shot swing in the span of about 15 minutes.
“It’s never nice to watch that, and even less when a guy that you’re friendly with and it happens,’’ Garcia said. “And he was playing so well. But it can happen at any time to anyone.’’
Suddenly, what was looking like a potential runway by Scott turned the Honda Classic into a tight tournament for Sunday’s final round.
“That’s what this course is about, isn’t it?’’ Scott said. “I guess that’s why they call it the ‘Bear Trap.’ It got me good. So much can happen, especially at a golf course like this. There’s trouble waiting on every misjudgment or poor swing.’’
Scott, though, remained undaunted by his momentary train wreck and recovered. He saved par after a poor tee shot on 16, birdied 17 and made par on 18.
“It’s what you have to do to stay in golf tournaments,’’ Scott said. “It could easily fall apart. It’s disappointing not to have walked out of here and shot 62 or something like that, but it might be [Sunday] that I can do that. It’s going to be an exciting day for me.’’
Garcia would lose the lead gifted to him on 15 when he bogeyed the par-3 17th hole and Scott birdied it. That gave Scott the lead again at 9-under with Garcia back to 8-under as they walked to the 18th tee.
On 18, there was yet another swing — albeit not as dramatic as the ones on the previous two holes — when Garcia birdied and Scott took par. That left the two tied for the 54-hole lead at 9-under.
“I think Sergio’s playing pretty solid, as well,’’ Scott said. “He looks like he’s got his game under control. I think we’re both pretty desperate to have a win after putting ourselves in this position, so hopefully we both play well and it’s a good show.’’
Said Garcia: “I think we both will be wanting it badly. At the end of the day, what I have to do is go out there and keep playing well, give myself a shot at it and then destiny will tell us.’’
Rickie Fowler had destiny in his hands entering the third round with the lead and it got slippery. The 36-hole leader who looked in such control of his game the first two rounds, struggled in his third round, shooting a 4-over 74 to fall five shots out of the lead.
“It’s a fine line out here, especially on this course,’’ Fowler said. “You can shoot 4-over a lot quicker than you can shoot 4-under. I just couldn’t really get anything going.’’
Neither could his playing partner, Jimmy Walker, who began the day at 7-under, one shot behind Fowler’s lead. Walker shot a stunning 9-over 79 to tumble 11 shots out of the lead.
Perhaps it was a bad omen for Walker when the man making the first-tee introductions at the start of his round announced him as “Jimmy Fowler.’’