Scott victory offers hope to others

Oldgolfdawg was glad to see that Australian Adam Scott prevailed in the Valero Texas Open yesterday at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course. After spending much of a drive from Stow to Columbus thinking about his own missed opportunities on the greens of Silver Lake Country Club earlier in the day, Oldgolfdawg found it encouraging to learn after he arrived home that a player battling putting demons had ended a two-year victory drought with a 66-67 finish on the final day of a tournament delayed by a deluge of rain on Friday.

Scott's one-shot victory over Fredrik Jacobson came despite the fact that he bogeyed two of his first three holes to fall four shots off the lead on his way to a third-round 66. Scott then built his lead with six birdies on his way to a closing 67 to finish at 14-under 274. His 11-under performance on the 36-hole final day earned him $1,098,000 and was good for his seventh PGA Tour victory, his first since winning the 2008 Byron Nelson Classic.

More than anything, the victory was an affirmation that his game has finally come back to him after the worst season of his career in 2009. The 29-year-old Australian, once ranked as high as No. 3 in the world, has been working hard to improve his putting, which has always been the Achilles Heel of his game. The hard work paid off in San Antonio as Scott missed just one putt from inside 6 feet all week. The miss was on the final hole, but luckily for him it didn't come back to haunt him or ruin his feel-good story.

The comeback road for Scott, always known as a good ball-striker, began last year when Greg Norman selected him for The Presidents Cup and then continued late in the year when he won in Australia. But it was an impromptu putting lesson from Dave Stockton the Friday of the Quail Hollow Championship that turned him around for his success in San Antonio.

“He said he could fix me in 15 minutes and he was right,” Scott told CBS Sports after his victory yesterday. “The game is a lot more fun when you’re making putts.”

Oldgolfdawg would dare anyone to disagree with that statement. Making putts certainly helped Scott deliver one of the best performances of his career yesterday.

“When you get hot, sometimes it’s good to play 36,” Scott said. “You want to just keep going and going. I was really struggling with my putting and that was bringing the rest of my game down.”

Oldgolfdawg can relate to that sentiment. Luckily the weather was great and the company of old friends Dennis Altieri and Cornelius Bulman was even better during Oldgolfdawg's round at Silver Lake CC. Time spent playing golf with good friends is priceless no matter how many train wrecks occur on the greens.

Victories like Scott's are inspiring. The only way to overcome putting problems is to keep working at it like Scott, who recorded his first top-10 finish this year, two weeks after he missed the cut at Quail Hollow and tied for 26th at The Players Championship.

Information from PGATOUR.com contributed to this post.