Scott to play at Australian PGA with long putter
GOLD COAST: Adam Scott says he will use a long-handled putter this week at the Australian PGA, similar to the now-banned broomstick version that he won the Masters with in 2013.
Scott, whose world ranking has slid to No. 31, said yesterday he used the longer putter in practice at Royal Pines. He switched to a short putter from the broomstick one after a ban began in 2016 on anchoring the putter against the body.
“I haven’t done that much work with it but it feels pretty good out there,” Scott said yesterday ahead of the tournament which also includes Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Marc Leishman and defending champion Harold Varner III of the United States.
“I think it might make the grade this week. I definitely feel very comfortable with it but I’ve just noticed, like everybody else, that Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron make everything they look at and have done since the anchoring ban and moving it away from the body.”
Langer and McCarron were first and second on the PGA Tour Champions money list this season and won three tournaments each. “I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if they’ve just had a really good year, but maybe they’ve found the best way to putt,” Scott said.
Langer and McCarron both had to defend the way they putt, saying they do not anchor their putters. They have been cleared by the US Golf Association.
Leishman, named Australia’s player of the year on Tuesday, said he is hoping for a strong performance at Royal Pines.
“(I want to) try and tick this tournament off the box,” Leishman said.
“You grow up and these are the tournaments you watch as a kid. You see your idols playing and winning them and you want to win them.”
Garcia travelled to Australia with his wife Angela, who had never been Down Under. He packed his Green Jacket from Augusta.
“I thought I knew how big the Masters was and the Green Jacket and how much it meant,” Garcia said. “But then once you win it and you start travelling with it and you see the reaction from not only the people, but the players and everything, you realise how massive it is.”