Scott ends drought in Singapore play-off

Adam Scott ended his victory drought of 364 days when he birdied the final hole of a three-hole play-off with Ernie Els to retain the Barclays Singapore Open.

Scott and Els were tied on eight under par after 54 holes and were both on 10 under par after eight holes when a thunderstorm stopped played at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course for the second time on Sunday with 28 players still on the course.

The fourth round was declared void and in the play-off, the duo squared the 16th and 17th with pars before settling the matter at the final hole as Els bogeyed and Scott sank a six-foot putt for birdie.

Scott was elated to have retained a title for the first time in his career.

“I’m really happy as it’s the first time that I have defended a title. It’s a great feeling and something that I will cherish,” said the Australian.

“It’s been a long time coming as I haven’t won since last year and hopefully I can kick on from here.

“Obviously it was a very tough decision for the organisers to make on whether to have a play-off or to come back out tomorrow.

“But it’s not the first time that I’ve won a tournament that was cut short and I felt that the play-off was justified because there nothing much separating Ernie and myself.”

Brad Kennedy of Australia, who was three strokes back of Scott and Els on seven under when play was stopped, was awarded third place for his 54-hole total of a five-under 208, while China’s Liang Wen-chong was fourth on four under.

Lee Westwood would have been pleased with the decision of the organisers as the Englishman was three-over after 10 holes.

The ancellation of the final round meant that he finished in a tie for eighth spot on level par with three other players, including Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.

The battle between Els and Scott in the final round had been warming up nicely when torrential rain stopped play with the duo on the ninth.

Scott had got out of the blocks quickly, taking a three-stroke lead with birdies from five feet at the second and 10 feet at the third to move to 10 under.

Els dropped to seven-under when his par putt stopped at the lip on the third but he sank long birdie attempts at the fourth and the sixth to close the gap to one before chipping in from 37 yards for eagle at the seventh to take a one-stroke lead.

That advantage was wiped out when he missed his par attempt from 12 feet at the next hole but all of that would be rendered meaningless as the weather intervened forcing the duo to return for a play-off in the early evening.

Scott made a putt from six feet to save par at the 16th and both players narrowly missed birdie attempts at the 17th, making the par-five 18th a virtual sudden-death hole.

Els needed three shots to get to the green after finding deep rough with his drive off the tee, while Scott also found himself in the thick stuff by the side of the green after coming up just short with his approach.

With Scott chipping six feet past the hole with his third shot, the pressure was on Els and the South African cracked as he three-putted from 25 feet to finish with a bogey.

The pressure was off for Scott who only needed a par for victory but he finished with a flourish by sinking his birdie putt.

It was a disappointing end for Els, who has not won since the Dunhill Championship last December, but the South African respected the decision to nullify the final round.

“I had some momentum going on my side (before the break) and then the weather came in,” he said.

“But who knows what was going to happen tomorrow – if you have another day like today, what are you going to do then? It was a tough situation.”