Consistency pays off for Adam Scott
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2006 PGA Tour Championship | Wrap | 06 Nov 2006
There is little doubt that for Gold Coast golfer, Adam Scott, 2006 has seen his emergence as a genuine challenger to the world’s elite. His three shot win in this week’s Tour Championship further confirms his position in the game and he is now poised to move forward next year to contend and perhaps even win a major championship.
Scott’s decision to make changes to his swing early in the year has seen him complete his most consistent year to date on the PGA Tour and he still has late season events to play elsewhere. It is true that he has not won as often as he has in the past but his number of high finishes is greater and he has contended for the first time in majors in 2006 with his two best finishes when 8th at the Open Championship and 3rd at the PGA Championship.
Scott will be at the MFS Australian Open next week and will also play at the Australian PGA Championship in early December so local fans will get to see a genuine top four world ranked player up close and personal.
Scott also further enhanced his reputation as a front runner. Many of his wins have come after leading a tournament for much of the event and this week’s tournament was no exception, taking a share of the lead after his second round of 67 and maintaining and extending it over the next two days.
The US$1.17 million he earned for his week’s work has moved him to US$4,978,000 for the season and at the completion of the money list race he lies in third place behind only Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.
Scott was forced to make an alignment adjustment during the course of his round today. “I think I just got aiming right. On 4 and 5, I was aiming right, a bit too far right because I didn’t make that bad a swing. But when I looked up it was coming out right of where I was looking. I just checked my aim out,” he said in the post round press conference.
With his nearest rivals Vijay Singh and Joe Durant both making fast starts today, Scott needed to do so himself in order to maintain the three shot margin he enjoyed heading into the final round. His first birdie came at the par four third where, after a huge drive, he pitched a little long but holed the putt.
“That’s where I got a good feel for the putting today, because I hit a nice putt there and it went right in the middle and kind of got my eye in. Luckily for me, Vijay missed his (from shorter range) because he looked like he might be a real strong challenger early on.”
Despite some less than perfect shots early on, Scott was making few mistakes as he worked his way to the turn in three under 32 and had opened up a three shot lead over Jim Furyk. His only blemish came with a bogey at the 16th and although he hit his tee shot left under a tree at the 17th he saved par with an impressive 15 footer. He had the luxury of playing the last hole with a three shot lead and nearly made it four but his birdie attempt at the last finished one roll short.
Furyk finished alone in second after his final round 65, which was the best round of the day and the equal best of the week with Singh’s third round effort.
All the honours however were with the 26-year-old winner who, by winning against such a strong field (despite the absence of Woods and Mickelson), has cemented his place amongst the game’s elite.
Of the other Australians in the field, Stuart Appleby finished 10th, Rod Pampling 14th after a last round of 66 and Geoff Ogilvy, who has played little golf in recent weeks following the arrival of his first child, was 19th.
Photo – Hunter Martin/WireImage.com
