Adam Scott is going to only putt with the flagstick in, joining Bryson DeChambeau as a high-profile player who is all-in on the notion of using the stick to make more putts.
Scott is making his 2019 debut this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii, so it's his first opportunity to play competitive golf under the new golf rules instituted by the USGA and R&A. One of the biggest changes in the massive upheaval of golf's rules allows golfers to now putt with the flagstick in when a putt starts on the putting surface (green). Previously, doing so would result in a one-stroke penalty of the ball struck the flagstick.
Soon after the changes were codified, DeChambeau said he would be putting only with the stick in the cup, citing the coefficient of restitution from the ball to the flagstick helping more putts than not get in the hole. He turned heads at the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions last week when he followed through with the promise. In the first two rounds of the winners-only tournament, DeChambeau was gaining strokes putting hand over fist, making critics wonder if SMU product had a point.
It appears the former Masters winner Scott has bought in, too, according to Global Golf Post.
Adam Scott says he will leave the flagstick in on every putt, even if it's a six-footer to win the Masters.
"As you know, I'm not a person who cares how things look...I was a 30-year old man putting with a broomstick."— RonGreenJr (@RonGreenJr) January 9, 2019
"As you know, I'm not a person who cares how things look," Scott said at Waialae Country Club. "I was a 30-year old man putting with a broomstick."
Scott won the Masters with said broomstick, becoming the first Australian to win the green jacket.
The now father of two isn't exactly a great putter. He's never been. He ranked 165th last season on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, and he's typically in the lower third of the Tour in that stat. He really has nothing to lose by putting with the flagstick in, and frankly neither does any other golfer. However, Scott is willing to look past whatever early stigma may exist for putting with the flagstick in, hoping it'll lead to better results on the greens.
