MELBOURNE, November 15, 2013 (AFP) - The world number two's bogey-free five-under-par 66 was enough for him to join young Australian Nathan Holman at nine-under 133 at the halfway stage of the tournament.
After Scott had birdied the first three holes he felt a stellar round was in the making before birdie putts just missed the hole as he strung together 11 straight pars after his initial run.
Even after picking up two late birdies to join Holman in the lead, another near-miss on the last stopped him taking it outright.
"I just kind of stayed patient and tried not to get too frustrated," Scott said.
"It feels like I just plodded along and it wasn't an exciting five under at all.
"It was just really steady stuff, which is pleasing. But I feel like there's that round in me somewhere here soon where I can go low."
Holman, who lives within minutes of Royal Melbourne and won the Australian Master of the Amateurs Championship at the course last year, said he is relishing the chance to go head-to-head with his idol Scott in just his fifth tournament as a professional.
"It will be awesome to play with the Masters champion and just try and go head to head with him," said Holman, who turned professional only last month.
"Probably there will be nerves but I am ready to accept the challenge."
Scott admitted he knew nothing of Holman and was happy to pass on advice, but tipped the youngster wouldn't need much.
"He's nine under, equal leader, I think he's doing pretty good," Scott said.
Holman shared the round of the day, a six-under 65, with fellow local Matthew Griffin, who is tied for second on eight under with first-round leader Nick Cullen.
American world number eight Matt Kuchar is alone in fifth spot on five under.
Kuchar grabbed six birdies in his outward nine before a double-bogey at the 13th and a bogey at the 16th gave him a round of 66 and lie four strokes behind the leaders.
Jarrod Lyle backed up his opening round one-over-par 72 with a 71 on Friday to make the halfway cut in his first professional tournament in 20 months, after fighting cancer for the second time in his life.
Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge is in a tie for sixth after a one-under 70, while Germany's Maximilian Kieffer dropped back to a tie for ninth after a one-over 72.
Kieffer finished well with birdies at the 14th, 16th and 17th holes, but paid for his four bogeys.
Fiji's former world number one Vijay Singh is seven strokes off the lead after a second round three-under 68.
Leading scores after the second round of the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne (par-71) on Friday (Australia unless stated):
133 - Nathan Holman 68-65, Adam Scott 67-66
134 - Nick Cullen 65-69, Matthew Griffin 69-65
137 - Matt Kuchar (USA) 71-66
138 - Brody Ninyette 68-70, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 68-70,
Jason Norris 69-69
139 - Ryan Fox (NZL) 68-71, Peter O'Malley 68-71, Brett
Rankin 68-71, Matthew Millar 69-70, Maximilian Kieffer
(GER) 67-72
140 - Vijay Singh (FIJ) 72-68, Peter Wilson 69-71, Clint
Rice 69-71, Daniel Fox 71-69, Jason Scrivener 69-71
141 - Mark Brown (NZL) 71-70, Matthew Guyatt 71-70, Anthony
Brown 68-73, Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 69-72, Steve Alker (NZL)
72-69, Terry Pilkadaris 69-72, Michael Hendry (NZL) 72-69,
Rohan Blizard 71-70, Bradley Lamb 71-70
Selected scores:
143 - Jin Jeong (KOR) 73-70, Cheng Tsung Pan
(TPE) 70-73
Cut made at +4 (146)