Scott, who has won 12 times on the PGA Tour (most by a player under 40), was 23rd in strokes gained putting in the tournament.
Advertisement
Adam Scott proved he can win with a standard putter as he held off the challenge of Sergio Garcia to claim the Honda Classic at PGA National.
A small measure of satisfaction might come from the silence he hopes will follow: Yes, he still can win with a short putter.
Adam Scott: “That was a great win today”.
The victory is projected to elevate Scott’s world ranking to No. 9 entering this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.
“Probably good for everybody who likes talking about it, absolutely”, Scott said.
That right there is an indication of how good his game is right now, and Scott is eager to get on with it. “I hung in there as long as I could, but I know I can play better, and that’s the good thing”. Obviously I’m not swinging that great. “It’s been a long time between drinks on the PGA Tour, especially after I was in such good form the last time I won, but that’s the beauty of this game”.
“I got off to a good start, made one at the first, that definitely relaxed me. He played better than me at the end of the day, it’s as simple as that”. I don’t feel like my swing was anywhere near where I wanted it to be but I scored nicely.
“It’s a huge stretch of golf coming up and it seems like this year, there are two six-week stretches or so that is just jam-packed with all the biggest tournaments in the world”, he said. Compton shot had nines of 36-37 on the final day and recorded five bogeys and two birdies.
However of significance it is Scott’s first victory using a conventional size putter since his 2010 Singapore Open victory and now also a first with a normal size putter in his bag since the anchoring ban came into effect on January 1st. Singh made a double bogey on the 15th hole without hitting in the water, hitting in the bunker or hitting in the rough. Scott shot another par at the 14th and was just four holes away from an insane round.
The offending hole was the par-3 15th, the start of what is PGA National’s over-hyped 3-hole “Bear Trap”.
He hit another one on No. 13, while Garcia bogeyed the same hole to give Scott a three-shot lead.
Only a single hole prevented a rout – he made a quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 15th hole on Saturday after hitting his tee shot into the water.
This was only his 10th event since a permanent switch to the short putter dating to the Presidents Cup, and he has finished out of the top 10 only twice since then.
“I wasn’t expecting it, and even less to go from being three back to being one in front”, Garcia said. This time, he settled himself and hit a safe shot to 30 feet, and Garcia looked back at him and said, “Good shot”. Last week, Scott, 35, tied for second at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. So I was just trying to make sure to stay with him again, still have a shot at tomorrow.
He began the final round by sinking a 15-footer to birdie the par-four first, and then buried a 10-footer at the fifth to move two strokes clear.
“I like where things are at”, he said.
Advertisement
He carried this confidence into the final day, carding an even par 70 to finish on 9-under, with Garcia falling just short on 8-under, after birdieing the 18th.
