USA PGA Tour

Adam Scott avoids distraction and hits clutch shots to capture Honda Classic

                          Adam Scott with the Honda Classic Trophy (courtesy of Getty Images(c)

  FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By Jim McCabe

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida — Festive had crossed the line over into outrageousness, which is standard fare when adult beverages have been served for hours on a warm, sunny day.
But as challenging enough as that situation was late Sunday afternoon for Adam Scott in the final round of the Honda Classic, what compounded it were the golf details. The Australian had just three-putted the 16th green, and now he surveyed a 183-yard shot over water one day after two water balls at the par-3 15th had resulted in a quadruple bogey and cost him a comfortable lead.
Scott smiled.
“You absolutely have to block out all the nonsense, or whatever it’s called, and get on with it,” Scott said.
The sloppy bogey at 16 hadn’t cost him dearly; after all, Sergio Garcia also had made bogey, so Scott still led by one as he stood on the 17th tee at PGA National, and surveyed the shot, not the inebriated.
“That was my time,” the Aussie said.
After a purely struck 7-iron, Scott saw his tee shot finish 20 feet from the hole. That led to a two-putt par, which translated into a two-stroke lead when Garcia bogeyed the hole. Though one hole remained to be played — and Garcia’s closing birdie at the par-5 18th made Scott’s final margin of victory one — the emphatic shot at the demanding 17th had been similar to the scintillating 150-yard bunker shot at the 12th that led to a kick-in birdie.
“I felt I needed to make a bit of statement,” Scott said after his victory moved him up to No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking and earned him $1,098,000 to Garcia's $658,000.
The shot at 12? It pushed Scott to 10 under, two ahead of Garcia, with whom he had started the day tied for the lead at 9 under. “A great time to hit a good one,” Scott said.
The tee shot at 17 came only seconds after a clown in the crowd had urged Scott “to hit two more in the water," (a reference to Saturday’s mishap). “That was a really good shot,” he said. “I hit a 7-iron as hard as I could.”
Truth is, it was as hard a golf tournament as Scott could have imagined, his final-round level-par 70 getting him home at 9-under 271. 
 Garcia (71) fell two behind Scott when the Aussie birdied the first and fifth, but was back into a tie at the 10th.
While a couple of youngsters — Justin Thomas (69) and Blayne Barber (70) — were in a battle for third (they wound up tied, at 275), the battle to win was strictly Scott vs. Garcia. It would come down to a simple case of Scott making the clutch shots when he had to (the bunker shot at 12, the tee shot at 17), and the Spaniard squandering too many chances.
“When you don’t feel like you’re swinging that great, in key moments, it’s tough,” Garcia said. He missed the green from the middle of the fairway at 11 (he cited a mud ball), then at 12, then most painfully at 16.
“Bad shot,” Garcia said of his 175-yard approach that came up woefully short and created a difficult wedge shot over a deep bunker.
“Obviously, it’s a tough pitch. I have to make sure I hit it hard enough, because if I don’t, it pretty much comes back at my feet. I got a little quick.”
Garcia hit it 17 feet past the hole, then missed the putt. That bogey by the Spaniard made the walk to the 17th tee a little more manageable, Scott said. But only slightly, “because you just know what to expect going to that tee.”
Truth is, it crossed the line. But Scott blocked it out of his mind, reminding himself “how many good shots I’ve hit this week.”
This was more than an hour after his 12th USA PGA Tour victory was made official, his first triumph since the 2014 Colonial (now named the Dean and DeLuca Invitational) providing a massive sigh of relief, so Scott could judge the crowd behaviour in a different light.
“There are a lot of people having a good time there, and I’m happy for them,” Scott said with a big smile.
Thrilled to have the ongoing saga of anchoring behind him and even more thrilled to have his wife Marie and one-year-old daughter Bo Vera in attendance, Scott had not flinched at the noise hurled at him and Garcia; instead, he embraced the challenge and did what champion golfers do: step up and hit the shot when it counts.
Graeme McDowell was the leading British/Irish player in fifth place on 276, only five behind Scott. McDowell erned $244,000
Russell Knox finish T26 on two-over 282 after four steady rounds of 70, 70, 71 and 71 against the par of 70. The Inverness-born, Florida-based Scot earned $39,816.

Aussie's first win with conventional putter
 
 FROM SKYSPORTS.COM

Adam Scott admitted he was pleased to silence the doubters about his putting switch by claiming a first US PGA Tour victory in nearly two years at the Honda Classic.

The former world No 1 had been expected to struggle after switching from his long putter in the autumn, but followed a runner-up finish at last week's Northern Trust Open with a one-shot victory at PGA National.
Scott had won the Masters and topped the world rankings with the long putter before switching to the short flat stick, with victory in Florida being his first worldwide title since the 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational and his first with a conventional putter since the 2010 Singapore Open.

"I'm so pleased," Scott told Sky Sports. "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.
"It was a tough change in some ways but I fully embraced it when I decided to make it at the Presidents Cup last year. I have enjoyed putting with the shorter putter since.
"I feel like I am getting better and better and today was a great test. I made some and missed some. I'm going to try and get better next week and it's certainly validated making the move to the short putter."

FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZEMONEY

 Par 280 (4x70)

PLAYER	POS	ROUNDS 1 2 3 4				TOTAL SCORE	OFFICIAL MONEY
Adam Scott	1	70	65	66	70	271	$1,098,000.00
Sergio Garcia	2	65	69	67	71	272	$658,800.00
Blayne Barber	T3	70	66	69	70	275	$353,800.00
Justin Thomas	T3	69	69	68	69	275	$353,800.00
Graeme McDowell	5	71	69	67	69	276	$244,000.00
Rickie Fowler	T6	66	66	74	71	277	$211,975.00
Vijay Singh	T6	69	70	68	70	277	$211,975.00
Billy Horschel	T8	73	70	66	69	278	$183,000.00
William McGirt	T8	66	72	73	67	278	$183,000.00
Scott Brown	T10	70	67	70	72	279	$146,400.00
Sung Kang	T10	71	69	71	68	279	$146,400.00
Luke List	T10	73	65	70	71	279	$146,400.00
John Senden	T10	71	66	71	71	279	$146,400.00
Bronson Burgoon	T14	72	71	67	70	280	$97,600.00
John Huh	T14	71	72	71	66	280	$97,600.00
Andrew Loupe	T14	71	68	74	67	280	$97,600.00
Sean O'Hair	T14	69	72	69	70	280	$97,600.00
Sam Saunders	T14	69	74	67	70	280	$97,600.00
Brendan Steele	T14	74	68	70	68	280	$97,600.00
Camilo Villegas	T14	72	69	69	70	280	$97,600.00
Alex Cejka	T21	71	70	69	71	281	$63,440.00
Chesson Hadley	T21	70	71	70	70	281	$63,440.00
Jeff Overton	T21	72	69	72	68	281	$63,440.00
Greg Owen	T21	69	71	69	72	281	$63,440.00
Brett Stegmaier	T21	72	67	74	68	281	$63,440.00
Patton Kizzire	T26	75	64	75	68	282	$39,816.37
Colt Knost	T26	75	67	73	67	282	$39,816.37
Ryan Palmer	T26	73	68	73	68	282	$39,816.37
Robert Streb	T26	73	68	74	67	282	$39,816.37
Stewart Cink	T26	73	68	72	69	282	$39,816.36
Jamie Donaldson	T26	72	67	71	72	282	$39,816.36
Derek Fathauer	T26	70	72	70	70	282	$39,816.36
Freddie Jacobson	T26	72	71	70	69	282	$39,816.36
Russell Knox	T26	70	70	71	71	282	$39,816.36
Brooks Koepka	T26	70	71	69	72	282	$39,816.36
Andy Sullivan	T26	71	71	70	70	282	$39,816.36
Stuart Appleby	T37	70	72	73	68	283	$26,840.00
Ken Duke	T37	75	65	73	70	283	$26,840.00
Tom Hoge	T37	70	73	68	72	283	$26,840.00
Smylie Kaufman	T37	70	72	69	72	283	$26,840.00
Phil Mickelson	T37	69	74	70	70	283	$26,840.00
Daniel Summerhays	T37	71	70	70	72	283	$26,840.00
Paul Casey	T43	69	74	69	72	284	$18,574.50
Retief Goosen	T43	71	72	72	69	284	$18,574.50
Padraig Harrington	T43	73	68	72	71	284	$18,574.50
Davis Love III	T43	71	69	73	71	284	$18,574.50
Ian Poulter	T43	71	69	74	70	284	$18,574.50
Kyle Stanley	T43	73	70	70	71	284	$18,574.50
Jimmy Walker	T43	67	66	79	72	284	$18,574.50
Will Wilcox	T43	70	73	70	71	284	$18,574.50
Erik Compton	T51	68	74	70	73	285	$14,823.00
Will MacKenzie	T51	71	70	70	74	285	$14,823.00
Graham DeLaet	T53	72	70	69	75	286	$13,862.25
Michael Kim	T53	72	71	74	69	286	$13,862.25
Spencer Levin	T53	73	70	69	74	286	$13,862.25
David Lingmerth	T53	67	71	72	76	286	$13,862.25
Shane Lowry	T53	67	75	69	75	286	$13,862.25
George McNeill	T53	67	75	70	74	286	$13,862.25
Michael Thompson	T53	65	73	79	69	286	$13,862.25
Steve Wheatcroft	T53	71	71	71	73	286	$13,862.25
Luke Donald	T61	75	67	73	72	287	$13,115.00
Jason Dufner	T61	68	73	71	75	287	$13,115.00
Morgan Hoffmann	T61	75	65	72	75	287	$13,115.00
Gary Woodland	T61	70	72	67	78	287	$13,115.00
Mark Hubbard	T65	71	70	76	71	288	$12,566.00
Francesco Molinari	T65	73	68	75	72	288	$12,566.00
Seung-Yul Noh	T65	75	67	73	73	288	$12,566.00
Hudson Swafford	T65	71	65	76	76	288	$12,566.00
Dawie van der Walt	T65	71	68	78	71	288	$12,566.00
Ernie Els	T70	71	72	73	73	289	$12,139.00
Kevin Kisner	T70	72	71	70	76	289	$12,139.00
Ben Martin	T72	71	72	72	75	290	$11,895.00
Tyrone Van Aswegen	T72	71	70	74	75	290	$11,895.00
Emiliano Grillo	T74	72	70	73	77	292	$11,651.00
Si Woo Kim	T74	68	74	77	73	292	$11,651.00
Darron Stiles	76	69	72	75	78	294	$11,468.00
Justin Hicks	77	67	75	73	82	297	$11,346.00