Adam Scott called it “winner’s luck.”
The important term is “winner” and there are no unlucky winners on the PGA Tour.
For Adam Scott, his heart was probably in his throat Sunday when he watched his second shot to the 18th hole at Doral start left and stay left, hitting the bank, bound toward the water, looking every bit the death of a victory.
Some how, some way, it hung up in the Bermuda grass, which was higher than normal and the rest is history. Scott hit a flop shot but still had a nervous six-footer plus for victory and it has to be nervous moment when you think that this was the young man who relied so heavily on the long putter the past three years.
“I can’t believe it, I don’t think I’ve processed what happened today,” Scott admitted after going back-to-back, Honda and WGC-Cadillac. He’s up to No. 6 in the world and with the season 30 percent in the books, there’s no doubt he will be Comeback Player Of The Year and if this form holds during the upcoming four majors, he could be looking at a Jordan Spieth-type of year.
For those longing for Tiger Woods in his prime, keep staring at Scott and his picture-perfect golf swing. It is basically the swing that made Woods famous. It is the swing Woods abandoned in his “mad-scientist” efforts to get better. Somewhere along the line, Woods forgot the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Scott has stayed with his magnificent action and he put on a driving display all week at Doral.
What’s even more impressive is his transition from broomstick to short putter.
He had Johnny Miller and the rest of the NBC announcers going ga-ga at how well he’s using the standard flatstick. “Comfortable” is the word we keep hearing.
Scott made the final move to the short putter at the 2015 Presidents Cup and never looked back.
With his two wins and the runner up at Riviera, he’s bagged an incredible $4,127,218 and is nearly 500 points ahead in the FedEx Cup standings.
Scary but Adam Scott has had what amounts to a hell of a year and he’s just getting started. He’s only made six starts on the PGA Tour in 2016.
What you see out of the 35-year-old Aussie is a young man who has settled into his family life. He had wife Marie Kojzar are the proud parents of 13-month-old daughter Bo Vera, born in Queensland just over a year ago.
Scott knows how important it is to keep his form, his momentum.
“I’m just gonna keep pushing the next few weeks,” he says.
In 31 short days, Scott and the rest of the stars will be playing the first round of the Masters.
Scott won in 2013, using that gosh-awful broomstick.
Like he says, he’ll keep pushing and right now, he’s got to be the early favorite at Augusta, especially when you consider that Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy don’t look ready to handle what’s ahead of them at Augusta. Scott is well aware of the timeline. After Doral, he added: “I’d love to just bottle up where my game’s been at the last couple weeks and move a month forward.”
That’s a month forward as in the first tee at Augusta National.
As for other Masters’ contenders, Phil Mickelson has been flirting, he has his good moments but then he has those Phil moments, the 45-year-old moments when it crumbles.
The closest thing to the young Tiger Woods at Augusta will be Scott and that gorgeous swing.
And right now, at this moment in time, Adam Scott is hard to beat.
All he needs is that momentum in a bottle.
