Another Aussie Takes Upper Echelon PGA Event

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Another Aussie Takes Upper Echelon PGA Event
November 7, 2006

There are those who still correctly note that young Adam Scott has yet to win one of the four major. But the soft-spoken Aussie made another strong statement about his golfing future with his three shot victory this weekend at the Tour Championship.

Scott, having arguably his best year as a pro, took control with a stellar third round, then fought off all challengers with a sparkling final round 66. Another player having arguably his best year as pro, Jim Furyk, took home second place with Sunday's best round, a shot better than the youngster at 65.

Scott, still just 26 years of age, added another of the second tier golf titles. Though it was only his fourth career PGA Tour win, the Aussie also won the elite "The Players Championship" back in 2004.

The smooth-swinging, long ball hitting youngster who reminds many of Woods a few years back, posted his ninth top ten finish with the win. Six of those nine had Scott finishing third or better, though the win was his first in 2006.

He resembled Woods in full form on Sunday. First Singh birdied the opening hole to pull within two strokes out of the gate. Scott had a tough par putt that could have cut the lead to a single stroke - but with Tiger-like tenacity the Aussie drained the par putt to stay two up. Then at the third hole, with Singh still just two back and the Fijan looking at no more than five feet for yet another birdie, Scott drained a long downhiller for birdie. The pressure on, Singh then missed his short putt, putting Scott back on top by three strokes. Essentially the Tour champion would cruise from that point on to the important victory.

In winning, Scott earned $1.17 million, pushing him to third on the PGA Tour money list. With earnings of nearly $5 million on the season and scheduled events upcoming in Australia, continued strong play could push Scott past Phil Mickelson into the number three slot in the world ranking.

In addition to taking home second prize, Furyk's round of 65 matched the low round of the tournament. That propelled the veteran to one of golf's most prestigious honors, the Vardon Trophy awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average on tour for the entire season. Furyk finished with a 68.86 (edging out Scot at 68.95). With the second place finish, Furyk earned $730,000, pushing his season numbers to $7.2 million and the number two slot behind Woods. Furyk also completed the 2006 season with 13 top ten finishes including two wins and four seconds on the season.

Other Tour Notes
Scott actually has five Tour trophies having won the rain shortened Nissan Open last year. Because the event only went 36 holes, the victory is not considered part of the official PGA Tour records. Tiger Woods with his $9 million in earnings and eight wins on the season had the lowest stroke average for 2006 at 68.11. But Woods elected to skip the Tour Championship and his time away from the game early in the season to attend to his ill father left him short of the required 60 rounds necessary to qualify forthe Vardon. One of the hottest current golfers on Tour, Joe Durant, continued his late season flurry with a final round of 67, good enough for third place. It was only ten to twelve weeks ago Durant was wondering if he would be able to keep his tour card for 2007. But a win at Disney and a season closing five straight top ten performances lifted him to 13th place on the money list. Whereas just a few weeks ago he was wondering about playing on Tour next year, that late season rush makes Durant eligible to compete in all four majors next year. And finally, we need to mention Vijay Singh. Though the big guy struggled on Sunday, he once again completed a top ten performance (though he was nine strokes behind Scott). His tie for eighth earned him $215,000 and a final season total of $4.6 million, the number four slot on the earnings list. The top five money winners included two Americans and two Aussies, Woods and Furyk at one and two, Scott at three, Singh at four, and Geoff Ogilvy, the other Aussie who won the US Open earlier in the year, in the number five slot.

10:33 AM