You lead the British Open by four shots with four holes to go. A dream position. But this is a major, and this is an Australian leader.
After a solid first three rounds at the 2012 Open Championship held at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Australian – Adam Scott was in prime position to win his first major championship, leading Northern Ireland’s, Graham McDowell by four shots at the start of play.
The majority of players came, but fell away around Scott throughout the afternoon, except for ‘The Big Easy.’
Ernie Els was the most consistent of the top players for the final round, carding a final round 2 under (68) which kept the pressure on Scott which was eventually too much.
It was a shaky start for the Australian, bogeying two of his first three holes before settling down into his round. Scott again made a bogey on 6, but a clinch putt on 14 gave Scott a 4 shot buffer before giving shots back to the field on holes 15-17.
Ernie Els drained a clutch birdie putt to cut Scott’s lead to just one shot as he came to the 17th.
Scott pulled his second shot left into the thick rough and was unable to get up and down, meaning a par for the Australian on the 18th, would force a play off. But that’s where it all went to pieces.
Instead of pulling out driver, Scott hit a 3-wood, which brought the fairway bunkers into play and sure enough that’s where Scott’s ball ended up, under the lip of the bunker. Scott chipped out sideways and had to make up and down from just inside 100m to force a play off with Els.
Scott’s approach shot finished 10 feet away and the Australian had the putt to stay in the tournament. Unfortunately for Scott his putt brushed the side of the cup which brought up his 4th bogey in the final 4 holes, and it dashed Australia’s hopes of having another major champion, which would have been our first since Geoff Ogilvy’s US Open success in 2006.
The ‘choke’ by Scott has already been labelled as bad or even worse than Greg Norman’s brain fade at the ’96 Masters. That day Nick Faldo overcame a six-stroke deficit going into the final round as Norman faltered down the stretch at Augusta, shooting a final round 78.
Andrew Potter
Roar Guru
Norman's was over 18 holes, soon my opinion Scott's was worse. But he handled himself exceptionally afterwards.
Johno
Guest
What a rubbish putter. Just practice putting everyday for the rest of your life!!!! Weak!!!!
Andrew Potter
Roar Guru
The holes may have been a struggle for some of the players but the way he made the bogeys says it all though. He had a 3 putt, missed an up and down from a bunker, missed a green left into the thick rough and drove it into the fairway bunker on 18, so you can say Scott through it away.
mushi
Roar Guru
Hmm on the surface yep but really – he posted a score within 3 of 5 other players in the top five. Yep he dropped the last four but two of which seemed to post a lot of bogeys for the day. I know it isn’t cool to look at the positives but is possible that Ernie won it?
SamClench
Roar Pro
It was a bad choke, but not as bad as Norman or Van de Velde. Remember 99? Up by three with one hole left? Wow. Gotta say, Adam handled himself with a lot of class afterward. Credit to him for that.
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
Nice work Andrew Potter you predicted it early; can't say i'm surprised. I thought he would blow it but as i was watching his round i thought he would cruise to victory- only for him to crumble in the last four holes. This generation of golfers can't win at the British open or the US masters... what do we do?
sheek
Guest
Right on cue, someone was going to talk about how Adam Scott "choked". I have sympathy for Scott. I doubt there is a person alive (or past) who hasn't choked under some kind of pressure at some time in their life. And especially us Roarers. I bet if you trawled back through the lives of guys like Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, there would be a point somewhere, probably in their youth, when they choked at something. Choking is forgivable, because it's in the DNA of all us humans. It's how you deal with it that is the measure of each of us.