ADAM SCOTT would no doubt jump at the offer of only missing one short putt in a US PGA tournament week but maybe not the final hole when there are others snapping at your lead.

The hugely talented Australian has just done that at the Texas Open but his final hole bogey hasn’t stopped his first win on the US tour for two years.

His sizzling final round 67 at the San Antonio TPC has seen him finish at 14 under 274, one stroke ahead of Swede Fredrik Jacobson and two ahead of a very welcome comeback by fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley.

Two years ago when Scott won the Byron Nelson Championship he was riding high at World No 3.

He has since slipped 40 places, you would have to say largely on the back of his flaky ability with the short putting.

Even last year on his way to winning the 2009 Australian Open in Sydney there were some missed short attempts in the final round that had his fans twitching nervously.

In fact, it was only after another poor putting performance that saw Scott miss the cut in Charlotte two weeks ago that he decided on a late entry in Texas.

Scott has credited an on the fly putting lesson from former pro Dave Stockton for turning his fortunes around.

“I was really struggling with my putting and that was bleeding into the rest of the game,” Scott said after what was his 16th professional victory and seventh on the US PGA Tour.
“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 putted solidly at the Players Championship last week and then put the whole package together in Texas on a marathon 36-hole Sunday after a rain affected tournament.

Scott admitted the missed putt on the 18th was “a bit of a disaster” but was more than happy 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 final hole miss turned out not to matter when Jacobson subsequently missed a birdie putt from five metres.

It was also a welcome return to form for Baddeley, who has been talking up his prospects since reuniting with boyhood coach Dale Lynch more than a month ago.

Baddeley recovered from an opening round 75, coming home with rounds of 66, 67 and 68. He tied for third with American Jimmy Walker and the resurgent Ernie Els.
Scott and Baddeley, both 29, have both threatened to do big things in the golfing world since bursting onto the professional scene over a decade ago.

Whilst it has often been the putting with Scott, Baddeley has struggled at times with the long game.

With three majors coming up between June and August in the northern summer, let’s hope it is not too late for either to make a big splash.

GEOFF OGILVY has again launched Australia’s golfing year off to a great start by winning the SBS Championship in Kapalau, Hawaii.

Ogilvy won the season opening title last year but this time around believes he can keep the good form going.

“I think I forced it too much (last year),” the Australian said after shooting a final round six-under-par 67 to storm home and seal a one-stroke victory over a fast-finishing Rory Sabbatini.

Ogilvy went on to win the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship in February last year but his efforts for the rest of 2009 were largely forgettable.

Apart from a respectable tie for 15th at the US Masters, he went missing in the big tournaments.

“I played so well here last year, and I played really well in the Match Play, played great at Houston (and) played alright at the Masters,” Ogilvy said.

“After that I think it goes awry. Before you know it, it’s the middle of the year and I am still struggling for two months, and I hit more balls and I chased it too hard as opposed to letting it come back.”
“I wasn’t happy with the way I was playing until after the Presidents Cup (in October).

“I had a moment of clarity when I played (Steve) Stricker in singles, (thinking) what are you trying so hard for? It’s a ball and there is a hole. Just hit it that way.”

Ogilvy has vowed to take a break this year if his game starts deteriorating, believing a cycling or surfing holiday is more likely to fix his game than grinding on the range.

“I think I’m a slow learner, but a pretty good learner. I think it’s taking me a long time to work stuff out that I probably should have worked out earlier, but at least I’m working it out.”

The PGA Tour will now head to Honolulu for the traditional first full field event of the season at the Waialae Country Club, where a number of new recruits, including the likes Australian’s Cameron Percy, will test their games at the highest level for the first time.

The SBS Championship is restricted to winners of the previous year’s PGA Tour events.

GREG NORMAN’S Internationals are just one point behind the Americans after the first day of the Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

The Internationals were looking good early – apart from a whitewash from the Tiger Woods/Steve Stricker pairing – but the Americans stepped up on the back nine and looked like they would dominate the results.

Justin Leonard just needed to sink a sitter that was the last putt of the day to give the Americans another full point win and a big advantage.

But with Norman, US Captain Fred Couples, their teams, families and a big crowd watching on the 18th, his putt lipped out, leaving the final standing at a slim 3.5 points to 2.5 points.

The Americans groaned but the Internationals managed to stifle their glee.

After a topsy turvy day, that final draw in the Foursomes format will give Norman’s team some needed momentum going into the second day. The Internationals have often struggled in the foursomes matches of the cup.

The standout team of the day were Woods and Stricker, who notched five birdies in the first nine holes and ended up beating Geoff Igilvy and Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa Geoff Ogilvy 6&4.

Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim delivered America’s first point when they posted a 3&2 victory over Canadian Mike Weir and South African Tim Clark. Their late run included birdies on the last four holes.
The somewhat controversial selection of the International team, Australian Adam Scott, repaid the faith shown in him by Norman when he and South African Ernie Els earned the Internationals’ first point with a 2&1 victory over Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair.
“It’s an important win,” Scott said. “Things were looking good early on, but some matches turned around so we needed this one.”
Woods and Stricker were the only American team never to trail in a match, and the Internationals were in the lead in four out of six at one point before momentum began to shift.
Australia’s Robert Allenby was also in good form and he and Fijian Vijay Singh delivered another crucial point for the Internationals as they battled to a 1up victory over Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink - the reigning US Open and British Open champions.
Americans Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard were 3 down at one stage but rallied and looked to have the match against PGA Championship winner Yang Yong-Eun from South Korea and South African Retief Goosen in the bag. Leonard’s missed putt put them square.
Americans Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson defeated Argentine Angel Cabrera and Colombian Camilo Villegas 2up.

POPULAR Australian golfer Peter Lonard has given his hopes of retaining his US PGA Tour playing rights a boost by shooting a “course record” nine under par 63 in the final round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Lonard has been struggling to find form all year and the final round performance lifted him from 49th overnight to 12th.

That handed him his biggest cheque of the year - $150,000 – and lifted him on the money list from 186 to 166.

The 42 year old needs to finish in the top 150 after the next four events to retain partial playing rights on the US Tour and in the top 125 to be fully exempt.

Throughout the week Lonard’s long game statistics had been outstanding and the fourth round was no exception as he hit all but one of the 14 fairways.

When the putting came together on the Sunday the unofficial “course record” 63 was the result. (Because the course was played under lift clean and place rules the record will not stand).

Lonard started with eight birdies on his first 12 holes and following an enforced week off because of the President’s Cup will return full of confidence for the Justin Timberlake tournament in Las Vegas next week.

POPULAR Australian golfer Nathan Green has broken through to win his first US PGA Tour title.

Green beat South African Retief Goosen in a sudden death play off to take what was a rain-plagued Canadian Open.

The tournament ended up taking five days and 74 holes on a soggy and at times unplayable Glen Abbey Golf Club course but it didn’t bother the 34 year old Australian.

“It’s a huge surprise to finally win,” said Green, originally from Newcastle.
“This is where I started my pro career. I love coming up here. The people are great.”
Green collected $A1.1 million for the win, his first since a European tour victory (New Zealand Open) in December 2006. Green climbs 140 places in the Official World Golf Ranking to 150th.

“I am over the moon…”

“I am over the moon,” Green enthused, saying the win meant “everything” to him.

“I probably wasn’t working as hard as I should have been earlier in the year but I sort of knuckled down the last few months and didn’t feel like I was getting any reward for it,” he said.

“I’ve never been really good at closing out events. I’ve had a lot of good chances, and lost in the last round, but for me, this event was pretty much — sort of a little bit make or break. I’ve had some good chances this year and really folded badly in the last one or two rounds, and that was my thing today, just don’t!”

“I went out there and I couldn’t afford another slip up. I had to do something quickly just to make sure I’ve kept my card for this year, and went out there, and the one benefit for me was I think being able to go straight from the third round into the fourth round. I didn’t have to sleep on it.”

“It’s just such a buzz for me to be able to turn the year around so dramatically. That’s more than I thought I could have done.”

Four days of stormy weather which resulted in more than 10 centimetres of rain dumped on the course forced the event to be extended into a fifth day.

Green and Goosen, a two time US Open champion, both finished on 18 under after four rounds of regulation play, posting final rounds of 68 and 69 respectively on the par 72 course.

Green took the title on the second play off hole when Goosen missed a nine foot putt to save par.

US star Anthony Kim shot a final round 73 to finish in a tie with Jason Dufner (73) for third place at 14-under 274.

Lee Janzen (67), Brandt Snedeker (68) and Jerry Kelly (71) shared fifth place at 13-under 275.