Scott actually fell behind by a stroke when Garcia parred the hole.
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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. Scott won 18 times around the world with a short putter, including The Players Championship and the Tour Championship.
Winning the Honda Classic will help him in that quest.
“Yeah, I would say after I was finished with 17 there, I was feeling pretty comfortable, but still you want to get 18’s drive down there in good position, so you never really want to get ahead of yourself in the game of golf because anything can happen, really”, Thompson said. There’s no other way.
One rumor said Augusta National offered $1 million to Augusta Country Club to buy its ninth hole and offered a high-profile course designer to re-do the hole and that Augusta Country Club countered with $50 million.
“I was just saying I had to make birdies to win this thing”, Thompson said.
His 26th victory worldwide took care of that.
Victory will move Scott move back to world No. 9 and, in the process, remind the likes of the twenty-somethings Jordan Speith, Rory McIlroy, fellow Aussie Jason Day and Rickie Fowler that Scott is far from a spent force.
Making just his fifth start of the PGA TOUR season this week, Scott came to the PGA National on the back of a T2 finish at last week’s Northern Trust Open.
Scott was forced to ditch his beloved broomstick putter under new rules, but said he’s worked hard to adjust.
“I have made some nice progress in all areas, especially noticeably on the greens”, said the 35-year-old. “There are a lot of people having a good time there, and I’m happy for them”.
When he won the Masters in 2013, he was the fourth victor in six majors to use an anchored putting stroke. For those who wondered if his career was in jeopardy, check out that trophy he was holding Sunday.
Now with a first victory in only his third event of 2016 since the anchoring ban came into effect Scott joked: “It’s in a good spot for sure”.
“I played really good again”, Scott told Sky Sports. “I hit a lot of good putts, some didn’t go in, fortunately it was enough in the end”. I think it’s just a calming thing, to go out and birdie the first hole of the day is a huge, calming factor. “I played exceptional yesterday so I had to reel in my expectations today and the pressure off Sunday”.
“I got off to a dream start”.
Scott left his 40-foot birdie attempt 10 feet short, and the par putt stopped short of the hole to keep the margin at one heading to the raucous 17th, a par 3 over the water. Scott put two balls into the water on the par-3 15th and made a quadruple bogey to lose the lead.
“This course is a real tough test and if you play well, five or six under is always going to make a real impact”. I played with him the last two days, and he looked awesome….
“I feel like I am getting better and better and today was a great test. I made some and missed some”.
Barber didn’t make a birdie over the final seven holes and shot 70.
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The Spaniard responded by carding a first gain of the day at the 14th, but gave his shot back when his second shot in to the par-four 16th landed short of the green.
