It’s last place Scott expected to be at Sherwood

When he played the par-three eighth hole Thursday at Sherwood Country Club, Adam Scott five-putted for a quadruple-bogey seven. He three-putted the eighth hole Friday for a triple-bogey six.

Explanation, please.

“Bad karma on that hole,” Scott said. “I’m improving, though.”

It’s true, there’s something about bad karma, bad swings, bad putting and bad scores that puts pro golfers in a bad mood, but Scott chose not to go in that direction, even though he had every right to toss a club or maybe snap one across his knee.

There are 16 players in the $5.75-million Target World Challenge and Scott is 16th after two rounds.

He shot an 80 Friday, including a triple bogey and a double bogey, which, combined with his first-round 75, puts him in the cellar by five shots.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that last place is still worth $170,000.

Sure, that amounts to something, Scott admitted, although he said it’s not much fun to be playing worse than anyone else.

“It’s pretty miserable to spend four hours out there hitting bad shots.”

So, is it poorly struck putts, errant drives or mis-hit irons causing him trouble?

“Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing,” Scott said.

That’s a huge swing in mood and momentum for Scott, the 26-year-old Australian who moved to No. 4 in the rankings and was third on the money list with $4.97 million.

He won the Tour Championship, was second at the Nissan Open, the Barclays Classic and the American Express, and was third at the Wachovia, the Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship.

It was the type of year that has been expected of Scott since he joined the PGA Tour as a special temporary member in 2002. He won the Deutsche Bank in 2003 and the Players Championship and Booz Allen in 2004, but this was Scott’s breakout year.

You wouldn’t know it by how he’s playing this week. If it’s lonely at the top, imagine how it feels to be at the bottom. Tiger Woods said no one wants to be there.

“I was in that position last year,” said Woods, who tied for 14th here in 2005. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m leading the tournament.... Oh, I’m sorry, I have the paper upside down.’ This is an elite field. You don’t ever want to be bringing up the rear like that.”

But that’s what Scott is doing, and by a wide margin. His 155 total of 11 over par isn’t near Luke Donald’s rounds of 76-74--150.

At this point, Scott isn’t concerning himself with the precise nature of his inaccuracies.

“I’m trying not to think about what’s going on out there, to be honest,” he said. “There’s no reason to throw the toys out of the carton because of a couple of bad rounds. I’m trying to keep my head on my shoulders.”

Scott has two more days of work, and then he’s taking 10 days off before heading to Hawaii for the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua and the Sony Open at Honolulu. After that, he’s on an extended vacation that’s probably going to last until the Nissan Open at Riviera in February.

“This will all be a memory then,” he said.

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Woods shot his second 68 to take a one-shot lead over Henrik Stenson after two rounds at the season-ending event. Woods, who trailed by three shots when Stenson eagled the par-five 11th, caught up quickly when Stenson double bogeyed the par-three 12th. Then Woods birdied the par-five 13th.

But that was the only par-five that Woods birdied Friday and in two days, he has birdied only four of the 10 par-fives.

“I was in position to make birdies on a couple of them and didn’t do a very good job,” he said. “That’s just the way it goes.”

Chris DiMarco, who shot a 67, is tied for third with U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, two shots behind Woods.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com