Adam Scott wins The Barclays and climbs to number two in the world
Adam Scott claims an unexpected victory at The 2013 Barclays tournament.
Adam Scott seemed as surprised as anyone to be holding aloft The Barclays trophy. Scott had posted a bogey-free, 5-under par final round 66 to sit in the clubhouse at 11-under par, but with plenty of golfers still left on the golf course he and caddie Steve Williams considered leaving.
Scott was asked to give a CBS Sports interview and in the time it took to say a few words about his day, other players begun to fall down the leaderboard and a playoff or perhaps a victory looked plausible.
Tiger Woods struggled all day with a back injury that had surfaced earlier in the week when he appeared to grimace just getting the ball out of the hole. The world number one looked all but out of the tournament when he fell to his knees after a hooked fairway wood found water thanks to a back spasm that was followed by another bogey at the 15th hole at Liberty National.
But Woods wasn’t going to go done without a fight and made two birdies on the 16th and 17th holes before leaving this putt on the 18th agonizingly short that would have forced a playoff with Scott.
Justin Rose also had a chance at not only forcing a playoff but a victory. His 25 foot birdie putt slid past the hole. He missed the returning putt and another challenger had fallen.
With Scott warming up on the driving range, he and caddie Steve Williams watched Gary Woodland attempt his birdie putt to force a playoff on the big screen. Woodland’s putt looked on target halfway to the hole but rolled away to hand Scott the unexpected victory.
“I can’t believe it, to be honest,” Scott said.
“I just played a good round today and I came in and really didn’t think it had a chance. But obviously, things went my way a lot out there.”
Scott moves to number two behind Tiger Woods in the world golf rankings, the highest ranking he has ever achieved. He also moves to number two in the FedEx Cup rankings.