Statistics don’t lie but Adam Scott won’t toss his long putter

ADAM Scott has no plans to reassess his use of the long putter despite a year of disappointment on the greens.

Adam Scott will be sticking with the long putter despite a frustrating time on the greens.

ADAM Scott has no plans to reassess his use of the long putter despite a year of disappointment on the greens coming to a frustrating conclusion at the Australian PGA yesterday.

Scott’s putting woes were rammed home as he lost a playoff to Greg Chalmers at Royal Pines on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Time and again, Scott had the chance to putt for the win. Time and again he watched the ball slide by the hole.

Tournament statistics laid bare his frustrations. Scott finished the PGA as the worst putter in the field. Over the 72 holes of regulation play, Scott took 125 putts. Chalmers took 102.

“In a playoff it is a lottery,” Scott said.

“This one went on and on and on. The story of the week — I didn’t make any putts. I had so many looks.

“When you have putts to win the tournament you have to make them. I bet Wade (Ormsby) feels exactly the same — he had a five or six footer to win the tournament.

“I have been in that position before and I have made them before. I know the feeling. You might not get another chance so when you have them to win you have to make them.

“But I just didn’t get them in close enough where it was a sure thing to make.”

Scott insisted he had no plans to review the long putter even though anchoring will be banned from 2016.

“I didn’t hit it close enough today to the hole,” he said.

“It wasn’t like I missed 10 footers today all day long. When you hit it outside 25 feet, there is almost the same chance you are going to three putt as two putt on tour.

“You have to hit it closer. Sometimes in windy conditions you don’t. I putted a lot from 30 and 40 and outside feet today and two-putting is actually gaining shots on the field.

“On days like today somehow you have to get in there closer and stay patient.”

British Open winner Ian Baker-Finch, regarded as a putting whisperer in golfing circles, backed Scott’s plan to retain the long putter, pointing out his fellow Queenslander won a US Masters with the anchored stroke. Rather than return to a short putter, he suggested Scott needed to take more time studying his putts.

“I am not going to second-guess him,” Baker-Finch said. “I would just like him to look at it from different angles.”

Scott has another major issue to sort out before the start of next season. He is yet to announce his caddie, although time is on his side as he doesn’t plan to return to the PGA Tour until the Honda Classic in late February. Perhaps his putting problems were more indicative of the influence former caddie Steve Williams had over him. After all, it was Williams who helped Scott line up the putt which ultimately won him the US Masters.