Scott embraces year of changes

New daughter. New caddie. Same old Adam Scott.

After a plethora of changes since the conclusion of the Tour Championship, the 2013 Masters Tournament champion returned to PGA Tour work last month as though nothing was different.

“I was quietly confident,” Scott said after inserting himself into contention at Doral despite shedding the broomstick putter that took him to No. 1 in the world and made him a major champion. “So I’m quite pleased with all the work I’ve done leading up to this event at home and somehow managed to take it out on the course in competition, so it’s a really good starting point for the year.”

It’s not as though Scott didn’t have experience making a big change to start the Florida Swing that paid immediate dividends. He first employed the long putter at Doral in 2011, and six weeks later he was runner-up at the Masters. So he believes he has enough time to get up to speed with a conventional putter before the anchoring ban kicks in at the end of 2015.
“I think the important thing for me will be to just stay patient with it for a little bit,” he said at Doral. “It’s going to be demanding, certainly if the wind is blowing. But I’m thinking, you know, my stroke and everything feels as good as it ever has.”

Just before the Masters, however, Scott announced he would use the anchored putter in Augusta.

“Putting with a longer putter is maybe the smarter thing to do (at Augusta),” Scott said after Bay Hill.

In many ways, the 12 months since the past Masters were more transformational for Scott than the aftermath of becoming the first Australian to win the green jacket the year before. He married his longtime girlfriend, Marie Kojzar, in the Bahamas a week after the 2014 Masters, and 10 months later they welcomed their daughter, Bo Vera, on Feb. 15 in Australia.

On the professional side, Scott had to replace veteran caddie Steve Williams, who retired to New Zealand. Scott spent the final events on the Australian swing auditioning new caddies and settled on Mike Kerr.

It’s the putter that will be the biggest factor in achieving his goal of adding more major titles to his portfolio, however. He began working with new grips and conventional short putters during two months off in Australia. He employed different putting grips at Bay Hill.

“I’ve kind of enjoyed experimenting at home the last couple (of) months because I’ve had so much time up my sleeve,” Scott said. “Thinking a little more objectively about it at the back end of last year, I thought because I do have to make an adjustment by the end of this year, if I’m going to spend some time doing it, I should try and start now and maybe find the best solution. … It’s not that big a deal. I did it for a long time, too, that way.”

Scott decided to give the Masters one more try with the broomstick.

“I am going back as a previous champion for the rest of my life and I have played the course really well over the last five years now,” he told the Australian Associated Press.

His current putting stats through three events aren’t encouraging. He ranks 186th in strokes gained putting, 159th in putts per greens in regulation (1.792), 196th in three-putt avoidance (11 in 252 holes) and 202nd in putts per round (30.46). Those numbers are comparable to 2010 before he switched to the long putter and well behind his 2013 numbers.

Last season did not go as Scott had hoped. Despite climbing to No. 1 with a victory at Colonial, his primary goal eluded him.

“I was disappointed I didn’t win a major, and I felt that was my main goal, so I didn’t really achieve that,” he said. “And probably didn’t just finish out the year as strong as I wanted the last four events. Played well, but it just didn’t happen. …”

Scott handled returning to Augusta as defending Masters champion better than most winners have. He stood one shot off the lead after the first round and was tied for third after 36 holes. But a third-round 76 derailed his hopes of consecutive green jackets.

“It’s all part of the experience, isn’t it?” he said. “I got off to a great start. I think I was 4-under through 10 Thursday and thought the extreme, ‘Oh, here we go; back-to-back.’

‘‘But I certainly think I’ll go back this year hopefully feeling confident with the game and slightly out of the spotlight. For sure, a lot of people will be focused on Rory (McIlroy) and Bubba (Watson) as well defending.”