Backspin: Scott's revival, Tiger's health, more

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DORAL, Fla. -- After Nick Watney sank his final putt Sunday at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, there was Adam Scott, who had waited for his good friend to finish so he could congratulate him.

Scott high-fived Watney, gave him a "hoot hoot," and briefly embraced him before Watney entered the scoring area and made it official.

The way Scott reacted you'd think he'd just won, not Watney.

A day earlier, when Scott was asked what the most difficult thing about a switch to the long putter, he extended his right arm up, smiled, and said, "Well, you've got to extend your arm a lot longer to get it out of the bag."

Scott was obviously joking but it was a sign that he is again happy, which is something the Aussie hasn't been much of the last two years.

Sure, Scott won last year, but he was fighting himself on the greens, which is why he sought out Dave Stockton early in the season and switched to a long putter this year. He'd also undergone a couple of highly-publicized break-ups off the course and the negative feelings from those seeped into his game.

"A few years ago I had my moments where I wasn't the happiest person," said Scott, who tied for sixth for his best finish of the season.

That's certainly changed, though, and it's showing in Scott's play -- at least for now.

"I feel like my game is really complete at the moment," Scott said. "I feel good (off the course), but I enjoy going out on the course feeling like I'm giving myself a chance.

"It's been a really frustrating couple of years, playing poorly in '09 and playing well last year but fighting myself every day. Play was very frustrating for me."

Scott's final-round 71 wasn't quite the score he was looking for, but the smile that came afterward is what he's needed more -- and he certainly seems to have found it.

Stock up

Nick Watney: His win Sunday gives him five straight top-10s to open this season and in four-stroke play events Watney is a combined 50 under. He's third in putting average, second in birdie average and first in scoring average. Watney also leads the all-around ranking and is second in FexExCup points. Matt Kuchar: Speaking of top-10s, Kuchar has been a machine in that department with five of his own in seven starts this year. He finished fifth in Miami for his third top-5 of the season and seems to have picked up right where he left off a year ago when he had 11 top-10s, led the money list and was second in FedExCup points. Luke Donald: I don't know about Johnny Miller's proclamation that Donald could become the best player in the world if he straightened out his driver, but Donald is certainly playing like one of the best right now with three straight top-10s, including a win. As I've said, I believe he'll contend in a major this year.

Stock down

Anthony Kim: If Kim is determined to let his clubs do the talking this year, it's been an awfully quiet month. He opened with an 80 last week on his way to a 60th-place finish at the WGC-Cadillac Championship and in his last three stroke-play starts is a combined 14 over. Jim Furyk: As documented in this space before, the defending FedExCup champion hasn't exactly gotten off to a rousing start this season. He tied for 49th last week after closing with a 75 and in 14 of his last 15 rounds he has shot 70 or worse. Ian Poulter: Not exactly a great few weeks for a guy who only a year ago was coming off a win at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. This year, he was out in the first round there and in the last two weeks is a combined 7 over, mostly due to putting.

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. As Nick Watney was wrapping up his first win of the year, Adam Scott was talking about Watney's chipping and putting being the biggest difference from last season to this one. Afterward, Watney said he's been working on the mental side of his putting with Dr. Morris Pickens, whose client list includes major winners Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover. Pickens basically got Watney to think about simply where to hit the putt rather than what score it was for. Sure enough, Watney's putts are down this year. But his chipping is also vastly improved. That was evident Sunday when he hit just over half his greens in regulation but still shot 67, and it has been all year with Watney moving from 146th on TOUR in scrambling in 2010 at just under 56 percent to second this season at just over 70 percent.

2. Tiger Woods' 6-under 66 was easily his best round of the year, but it wasn't some sort of epiphany. As his swing coach Sean Foley told me Sunday night, Woods' 74 in the second round didn't make Foley think they need to go back to the drawing board, and the 66 didn't make him think Woods had suddenly arrived at where he's been trying to get to. "At some point, that's going to converge and become the norm on the course. It's inevitable." Foley said. "I know he knows he's getting better."

3. One other thing worth watching with Woods is his health. He spent quite a bit of time stretching during his round on Friday and as I watched him warm up on Saturday, he appeared to be moving a bit gingerly. Woods said his back is fine, but he appeared to be favoring his left ankle just a touch as he walked around the practice green prior to the third round. Remember, Woods is 35 now, has undergone procedures on his knee and Achilles Tendon and is hard on his body during workouts. Stiffness and soreness are things Woods has to deal with more than in the past. Of course, he also won a U.S. Open on one leg, but if he's dinged up at all it may be more difficult, or take longer, to implement the swing changes he's working on.

4. Lee Trevino is one of the best storytellers you'll find anywhere and he had a great story last week at the Toshiba Classic while making a point about the slow play problem that's, pardon the pun, crept up a lot lately. Recalling a story about Tommy Bolt, Trevino said: "When you practice, you could only hit one ball on the green. Tommy would hit two or three, and one of the officials came up to him and said, 'Tommy, you can't do that.' Why not? 'It's a $25 fine if you hit more than one ball on the green.' He handed him $200, and he said, 'Keep the change, I'm going to hit three more.' That's the way it is. That's how crazy it is with an itty-bitty fine like that."

5. Speaking of slow play, I had a feeling it wouldn't be a problem with Anthony Kim and Jeff Overton last weekend in Doral. They obliged and played the third round in 2 hours, 51 minutes. On Sunday, they played even faster, finishing in just over 2 hours. Naturally, they shot lower scores on the weekend than they did the first two days, which is proof you can play well without grinding over every shot.

6. I met Jhonnatan Vegas for the first time last week and the thing that stood out most to me, aside from his larger-than-life personality, is just how big his hands are. But they're also soft, so it's no wonder he has such a good short game. He was also a proverbial rock star in South Florida, which has a large Venezuelan population, and handled it extremely well.

7. With so many players from so many places all over the world, and only so many days on the calendar, golf could look a lot different in, say, 10 years from now with the potential for some sort of world tour. "My own view, and [Chief Executive of the European Tour] George [O'Grady] and I have talked about this I think a fair amount, is that it may develop over the years that golf just becomes integrated," PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said on Sunday. "We clearly recognize that the global presentation of the sport and the broadcast that's tied to that has changed and evolved over the last 15 years, and to leverage that properly, at some point in the future, at least in my view, integration will become a very viable alternative."

8. Speaking of integration, Rickie Fowler, of course, likes to integrate Oklahoma State orange into just about everything, including the numbers on his irons. Fowler paints them himself ... with nail polish ... that he apparently buys himself. He's been doing it for years, too.

9. Ironic Moment of the Week: In Saturday's edition of the Miami Herald there was a correction for misspelling the name of the winner of the newspaper's spelling bee. Now that's funny.

Forward Spin

The Florida Swing continues with the Transitions Championship at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, which is one of the toughest tracks on TOUR. Last year, Jim Furyk got the first of three wins there on his way to winning the FedExCup and earning Player of the Year honors. He'll be back to defend, of course, and top-ranked Martin Kaymer is in the field as well. He'll try to recover from a rough finish in Miami, where he tumbled out of contention with a couple of 74s on the weekend. On the flip side of that is Nick Watney. He finished fourth there a year ago and will try to extend his top-10 streak this season to six in a row.

Next Kodak Challenge hole

NEXT WEEK: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard HOLE: The par-4, 449-yard 18th at Bay Hill Club and Lodge ABOUT THE HOLE: The 2011 Kodak Challenge will continue at Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard with the 449-yard par-4 18th at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge. Kodak Challenge standings