Tour de force for super Scott

WHEN Adam Scott holed a shot from the bunker, turning a possible bogey into yet another birdie, Joe Durant and Jim Furyk knew they were playing for second.

Never mind there were still five holes to go in the Tour Championship.

“Once he did that, I kind of looked at Jim and laughed,” said Durant, who was playing with Furyk, just ahead of Scott in the final pairing on Sunday.

“We didn’t have much to say, but we pretty much knew it was game, set, match as far as the winner was concerned.

Heck, a sizeable portion of the gallery at East Lake Golf Club didn’t need that long to figure it out. When Scott made the turn at least three strokes ahead of everyone in the PGA Tour’s version of the All-Star game, some fans just kept right on walking through the front gate, heading for home rather than walking the back nine.

Indeed, Scott made it look easy in the season finale, shooting a four-under 66 that buried the rest of the elite field. Jim Furyk was the closest challenger, not that he was all that close.

He never got any closer than two strokes, trailed by as many as five on the back side and wound up three behind.

Durant was another shot back and only five other golfers were within 10 strokes of the winner, who put up four straight rounds in the 60s for his first victory of the year.

Starting out the final round with a three-shot lead on a cool, colourful afternoon, Scott sank a slick, 15-foot birdie putt on No. 3 to turn back an early threat from playing partner Vijay Singh.

When Furyk and Durant make a move, Scott responded with three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn. Then he delivered the clincher, holing out from the front left bunker at No. 13.

“I heard the big roar,” Furyk said. “That was probably a chance to pick up a shot and we lost another one. He did all the things he needed to do to win the golf tournament.”

Scott desperately wanted a win to ensure his best year has some meaning. He wound up third on the PGA Tour money list, and can move as high as No. 3 in the world rankings before the year is actually done.

“You can’t be that (No.) 3 or 4 player in the world without winning tournaments,” Scott said. “That shouldn’t happen. I feel more comfortable in that position seeing I’ve won an event.”

Scott finished at 11-under 269 and earned $1.17 million to end the season with nearly $5m in winnings. With tournaments in his native Australia, he can surpass Phil Mickelson at No. 3 in the world ranking by the end of the year.

Furyk shot a 65, playing bogey-free golf over his final 31 holes. He settled for his first Vardon Trophy with the lowest adjusted scoring average on tour at 68.86. Scott was second at 68.95.

Tiger Woods had the lowest average (68.11), but failed to play the required 60 rounds. Woods skipped the Tour Championship for the first time, although he still would have come up one round short.

“I’m wondering if anyone is going to put an asterisk on it because Tiger didn’t play enough rounds,” Furyk said. “But it’s a nice honour.”

Durant closed with a 67, capping a stunning turnaround to his career with a $500,000 bonus for winning the Fall Finish. He was worried about keeping his card three months ago, then finished with five straight top-10 finishes, including a win at Disney. He wound up 13th on the money list and eligible for all four majors next year.