Scott grinds it out in Dallas, earns thrilling win
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondant
IRVING, Texas -- He dug this one out of nowhere.
Out of a pile of lost chances and shots buffeted by the wind. Out of a grind of a round during which, if he'd made half the putts he missed, this one wouldn't have been close.
Out of a day when the emotion he always keeps under the surface finally spilled over with a raised putter as the winning putt crested the ridge and a quadruple fist pump when it went in.
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Just how Adam Scott's ball finally found the right line and speed from 48 feet away on that 75th hole, he may never know. Sure-things stopped on the lip. Must-haves skirted the cup.
This one? It just felt right.
So in the end, Scott slammed the door. He made that statement he wanted to make; the one he had to make.
And, even though it took the 10th-ranked player in the world three extra holes to shake a gritty Ryan Moore, who, incidentally missed a putt that could have sent this one to a fourth extra hole, Scott erased those can-he-finish-it-off doubts as he won the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
"I think for me I needed to walk out of here with a trophy, like I was trying to say last night,'' Scott said. "I needed to go and close this thing out, and it was tough, but I managed to do it. I feel pretty good about myself.
"It would have been a tough defeat. Even in tough conditions, to let go of a three-shot lead doesn't sit too well with many people, and that goes for me, as well. That would have been rough.''
And with Moore playing well enough to steal it?
Scott pulled a Tiger. He found a way.
That may sound simple, especially since we expect so much from the 27-year-old whose mentor was Greg Norman and whose swing has been shaped by Tiger's old coach Butch Harmon. But it never is. At least not in the States when Scott is involved and there's water on the left side of the 18th hole.
The man who cruised to a closing 61 to win the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in January struggled to close out 2004 THE PLAYERS Championship and the 2007 Shell Houston Open -- his approaches at the 72nd hole both found the water at those respective courses. But he did it.
Here he took a three-shot lead into the final round and lost it. A couple of times. He watched an eagle putt at 16 come up short in regulation and had to birdie the 72nd hole to close with a 71 to tie Moore at 7-under-par 273 and force the playoff. They both parred the 18th, but after pars on 17, Scott came up with his fourth birdie in six tries at the 18th.
On the first playoff hole, he striped a driver and came away with par. On the final hole, he found the fairway bunker on the left and had 115 to the pin and 108 to carry the water. He played it safe, but his ball settled below the ridge.
"I know, and there's water on the left, too,'' he said with a grin. "Can you believe I didn't hit it in there once this week? Yeah, it was playing good for me. I could aim it at the right bunker and let the wind hit it off it today.''
It was one of the few places things went right. Scott came up short on the par-3 fifth and double-bogeyed -- he tried to trap a 6-iron and it got caught in the wind -- to crack the door that Moore walked through with a birdie at 10 for the lead. Scott got it back and had a 25-footer for eagle at 16 that would have given him a cushion, but he came up short again.
"Just maybe caught up in the line too much, grinding so hard, and I hadn't made a putt for a while at that point,'' he said of coming up short. "I had a couple chances on 11 and 12 and didn't hit the best of putts.''
But in this world where we define so much by the No. 1 player in the world, he did what that guy always seems to do -- he found a way to win.
"He's a great player,'' said caddie Tony Navarro. "He's not looking for trouble, but sometimes we find it."
Scott had the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in his sights last week when he phoned in a last-minute commitment and flew back from Australia. Scott opened with a 63 in Houston three weeks ago, but was forced to withdraw with strep throat. Then, he saw the signs at the Masters -- he played well until a final-nine 41 -- and figured there was no reason to take money off his mates back home. He might as well go for it on the renovated TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas.
Navarro was set to caddie for Norman in the Asian Open this week, but called in his regrets and said he was heading to Dallas. The two were a team when Norman was No. 1 and, while Navarro declines to compare Norman and Scott, he knows a great player when he sees one.
"It was a heck of a win,'' he said, "It was one hard golf course. It was tough the way it happened and it made him grind. Those last 13 holes, he had to show what he was made of.''
Scott had to grind Saturday, too, when he sprinted out to that three-shot lead. But when you watch him, he almost always seems at ease -- almost at peace -- at times when players like Tiger or Phil Mickelson or whoever are letting their emotions show.
"I struggle to bring that out to show people,'' Scott said. "I don't play well if I get too pumped up, if I don't bring myself back down to hit a shot. It doesn't come out. I was grinding inside today. I was playing hard. I wasn't going to let it slip.''
Navarro can read his man, but even he wishes he could see a little outward expression of that fire from time to time.
"Sometimes I'd like to see him get a little bit madder,'' Navarro said. "But how do you say that to a gentleman like him?"
You don't.
Scott's weakness a few years ago was his short game, but that has improved four-fold over the last few years. He knows he can still improve on it, but admits it's not that bad.
"No, I don't have Tiger Woods' short game or Phil Mickelson's short game for that matter,'' Scott said with a smile. "You're looking at the two best in the world, and that might be a reason why they're the two best in the world. I've seen such a huge improvement in my short game in the last couple years. I mean, I'd put it up against anyone else day to day other than those couple guys.''
And while we do think about the ones that got away, his final putt was simply brilliant. He played six feet of break as it went over the ridge and to the top of the hill. And, eventually into the cup.
"I actually had good feelings looking at the putt,'' he said. "I had a pretty good line on it. Sometimes you can just see them straight away, and I got a good grip on that one.
"I had Tony looking at every other putt for me in the playoff, and I didn't have him look at that one. Not that he can't read a putt,'' he said pausing to chuckle, "but I just had a good feeling.''
He had a good feeling all week. Even when things were a grind and especially when that putt fell for the win -- his second of the year (first on the PGA TOUR), his second in Texas (he won the 2007 Shell Houston Open) and one where he won without his "A" game.
"There is no downside,'' Scott said. "I mean, and to be honest, I will probably take away more from gutting it out than winning by five, whatever it might be. I've been saying I've been playing well.
"I expected to go out there and play pretty well, but I know that on a day like today I hit a lot of good shots that didn't turn out very well, and the wind was fickle out there, whether it was into or down or the across wind.''
There's no downside, either, going into the Wachovia Championship and THE PLAYERS where he expects two more good weeks.
"Next week is important for me to just keep the momentum going a little bit and not relax and kind of keep pushing myself,'' he said. "You know, hopefully get it going there next week and kind of ride this thing out a little bit while I'm playing well and hope it's just not one week of good play.''
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