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Scott breaks drought
28/04/2008 10:06 - (SA)
Texas - Australian Adam Scott sank a stunning 48-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole here Sunday to defeat American Ryan Moore and win the PGA Byron Nelson Championship.
Scott squandered a three-stroke lead when the day began but blasted out of a fairway bunker to find the green, then rolled home an epic putt to win his sixth US PGA Tour title, 14th worldwide, and a $1.152m top prize.
"I dug it out of nowhere," Scott said. "I found my range on the third playoff hole. I had been getting it too close before.
"I got away with one today I think."
Tenth-ranked Scott ended a US victory drought of more than 12 months, having last won a US PGA title at last year's Houston Open, although he captured a European Tour event earlier this year at Qatar.
"I will probably take more away from gutting it out than winning by five," Scott said. "I (proved) to myself I could actually win when things weren't going my way."
Moore, the 2004 US Amateur champion, missed out in his bid for his first PGA title but matched his best finish on the tour, a lone runner-up spot previously achieved at last year's Memorial tournament.
Blasted
The third playoff hole was the third visit to the 18th for both players in less than an hour. Moore was in the fairway and rolled his approach just off the green while Scott found a fairway bunker with a difficult lie near a slope.
Scott blasted a wedge shot below foot level onto the green but 48 feet from the pin, 33 farther than Moore, then rolled the mammoth putt with right-to-left break into the cup for his fourth birdie in six tries this week at the 18th.
"I had good feelings looking at that putt," Scott said. "It looked good a long way out and I thought 'This has got a chance' and three feet out I thought 'This is going in,' and then it started diving across the front of the hole and I thought it might not. It went just in the left side."
Moore missed his 15-footer just left of the cup and Scott had the triumph.
"You expect a guy like that to make a putt in that type of situation," Moore said.
Scott dropped a 10-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole just to force a playoff with Moore, both finishing four rounds on seven-under par 273, four strokes ahead of third-place US veteran Bart Bryant at the 6.4 million-dollar event.
After botching a finish last month and another last year to squander chances at titles with a final-round edge, Scott was happy to come through even if it was far from a feat of beauty.
Squandered
"It wasn't quite the statement I had in mind," Scott said. "It would have been a tough defeat. I expected to play well but I hit a lot of good shots that didn't turn out well, and the wind was fickle out there."
Scott squandered what had been a three-stroke lead when the round began, opening with a bogey and taking a double-bogey at the par-three fifth when his tee shot found water shy of the green.
Scott birdied the seventh and answered a bogey at 15 with birdies at 16 and 18 to set up the playoff drama.
"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. Ryan played well enough to win. Fortunately I had a pretty good buffer on him. I lost my lead early and it was a battle.
"I kind of got away with it, a bit lucky."
Moore took a bogey at the second hole but birdies at the par-five seventh, eighth and 10th put him on top. Moore made bogeys at 13 and 14 to falter but righted the ship with birdies at 16 and 17.
The playoff began on the 18th and Scott had a chance to win it with a 10-foot birdie putt but left it short. Each tapped in for par and went to the 17th tee.
Bryant found the green on the 196-yard par-3 hole but was 30 feet and two major mounds from the cup while Scott just cleared a water hazard and left himself a 12-foot birdie putt for the victory.
Bryant rolled his effort eight feet past the cup but Scott rolled his birdie bid just left of the cup, settling for par and forcing Bryant to sink his tension-packed putt to continue the playoff, which the American did.
- AFP
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