Golf: Scott breaks PGA Tour drought

SAN ANTONIO - Australian golfer Adam Scott's late decision to play the Texas Open was rewarded in the best possible way when he stormed to victory in San Antonio today.

Despite missing a three-foot putt at the final hole, Scott finished at 14-under-par 274, edging Swede Fredrik Jacobson by one stroke, with another Australian, Aaron Baddeley, two strokes behind in a tie for third with South African Ernie Els and American Jimmy Walker.

Scott earns US$1.09 million ($1.49 million) for his 16th professional victory, his seventh on the PGA Tour in the United States.

His past three wins have been achieved in Texas, at the 2007 Houston Open and the 2008 Byron Nelson Championship.

After another embarrassing putting performance caused Scott to miss the cut in Charlotte two weeks ago, he added the Texas Open to his schedule.

And it was a fruitful putting lesson with former pro Dave Stockton, one of the game's all-time great putters, that turned Scott's fortunes around following that Charlotte debacle.

Scott putted solidly at last week's Players Championship and then put the whole package together in Texas on a marathon 36-hole Sunday at the Greg Norman-designed San Antonio TPC.

After a six-under-par 66 in the third round, he was just as impressive in the final round as he carded 67 that was marred only by a bogey at the par-five 18th, where he missed his only short putt all week.

"It was all a bit of a disaster there," Scott said of the missed putt.

"I was playing it straight and I pulled it left."

Still, he was most satisfied with the rest of the day: "It wasn't the greatest finish but I played really well considering I was one under after three holes this morning.

"It's really good with the putter the last two weeks. It's nice to see putts going in and it makes golf a lot more fun.

"When you get hot, sometimes its good to play 36 (holes). You want to keep going and going. I got in the rhythm out there and they all started going in."

Scott's mistake at the final hole turned out not to matter, because Jacobson subsequently missed a birdie putt from five metres.

Scott looked a broken man at last month's Masters, where he described his putting as pitiful but what a difference five weeks makes.

Recalling his lesson from Stockton, Scott continued: "I was really struggling with my putting and that was bleeding into the rest of the game.

"It was a timely meeting with Stockton a couple of weeks ago. He said he could fix me in a couple of minutes and he was right."

Scott and Baddeley, both 29, have teased Australian golf fans since they turned professional a decade ago, but it's not too late for them to fulfil their potential.

Scott has putted sporadically throughout his career, but he has proved time and again that when his stroke is working, he is very hard to beat.

Baddeley, on the other hand, has struggled with his long game at times but appears to be on the right track after returning to his boyhood coach Dale Lynch more than a month ago.

Most of the games big guns skipped the Texas Open, but you still have to play well to win any time on the American circuit.

Scott will face bigger tests over the northern summer, with three majors coming up between June and August, but today's performance will provide a huge jolt of confidence for the man who only two years ago was ranked third in the world.

- AAP