And Adam Scott saw it coming.

As the Queenslander marked his return to competitive golf with a final round of 2-under 68 to finish tied for 22nd at TPC Harding Park, a day earlier he was given a front-row seat into how golf’s next budding superstar handles himself in the heat of a major.

So impressed was Scott with Morikawa’s third round of 5-under 65 that saw him begin the final day in a tie for fourth – “He played the kind of round that I woke up thinking I’d like to play” – that he offered a prediction that would prove to be marginally wrong… but oh so right.

“I couldn’t be surprised if he goes on tomorrow and shoots another 65,” said Scott.

Morikawa would instead shoot a Sunday 64 to cap a remarkable first 14 months as a professional that has already yielded two PGA TOUR wins, a Major championship triumph and close to $US7 million in earnings.

Jason Day had Aussie hearts racing when he joined a logjam of some seven players at 10-under par with only a handful of holes yet to play but as PGA of America officials scrambled to determine how to fit so many into the one playoff, Morikawa took matters into his own hands.

A chip-in from 55 feet front-right of the 14th green looked like being the memorable moment that would define this year’s first major championship yet the 23-year-old’s exclamation point came at the driveable par-4 16th where his tee shot to seven feet set up eagle and a two-shot win.

Scott was 23 years old when he became the youngest winner of The Players Championship in 2004 and likes the composure he has seen playing 27 holes with Morikawa this week in San Francisco.

“I like his demeanour on the golf course a lot,” Scott said of Morikawa, who joined Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy as the only 23-year-old winners of the Wanamaker Trophy.

“I could see it in the practice round but again, confirmed to me today. It’s Saturday of a major, and he was in that same kind of demeanour out there. Nothing was really going to phase him and he played a beautiful round of golf.

“It’s easy to say he’s got all the credentials, but he’s kind of proving it.

“If he doesn’t mess around with it and he keeps everything under control, he’s going to do a lot of good in his career.”

Making his first tournament appearance since an opening round of 2-under at The Players back on March 12 prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Scott showed little signs of rust in an opening round of 2-under 68.

He followed that up with successive rounds of even par 70 before a Sunday 68 and an awareness of the areas of his game that need fine-tuning in the weeks to come.

“I’ve driven it well off the tee but my iron play has really been struggling the last two days,” Scott said ahead of his final round where he hit 14 of 18 greens despite finding just four of 14 fairways.

“I can’t hit it inside 30 feet, and that makes it pretty hard to just expect to roll in birdies from 50 feet all day. I’ve done well not to three-putt to be honest.

“I mean, it’s far from horrible, but it’s just not standing up to the test this week. I mean, it’s just not good enough. I’ve missed way too many greens from the fairway and on par 3s, and left myself just scrambling, really.

“Getting back to a competitive rhythm, hopefully that’s it. I think my coach feels like everything is in a good position, but it’s really just about me getting comfortable on the golf course.

“The left-to-right winds certainly have knocked me around a little bit this week, and reacting off some of those swings probably doesn’t help.

“I’ve got a little bit of work to do on my game for sure.”