Adam Scott overtook Tiger Woods and became the No. 1 ranked player in the world last week. He validated that lofty status by winning the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Scott has acted like the best player in the world since his win at the 2013 Masters. He finished T-3 in the Open Championship and T-5 at the PGA Championship, before winning The Barclays in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
He won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda and returned to Australia to win the Australian PGA Championship and the Talisker Masters. The next week, he finished third behind Jason Day and Thomas Bjorn in the ISPS World Cup at Royal Melbourne and followed that up with a runner-up to Rory McIlroy in the Australian Open.
He ended the year ranked No. 2 in the world, but was performing at a very high level.
He has not let up this season. After two top-10 finishes in Hawaii in January, he took the month of February for some well-deserved R & R.
He picked right up again with a third-place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and now the win in Ft. Worth.
In eight starts this season, he has made every cut, has four top-10 finishes and earned over $2.2 million.
Oh and by the way, he became the first man to ever win the “Texas Slam.” No one, not even Hogan, Snead, Nelson, Trevino, Watson or Nicklaus has ever won all four of the PGA Tour events that are held annually in Texas.
Scott won the 2007 Shell Houston Open, he added the Byron Nelson in 2008 and in 2010 he won the Valero Texas Open. The final jewel in the crown came last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.
It wasn’t easy though, he had to win a playoff with 2013 PGA Champion, Jason Dufner. After they matched identical four-under-par 66’s on Sunday, they finished tied at nine-under-par through 72 holes.
Both men made par at the first playoff hole, No. 18 and matched birdies at No. 17 the second playoff hole.
Scott made a 14-foot birdie at No. 18 the second time around and Dufner failed to convert his 4 ½ footer to prolong the playoff.
This was Scott’s 11th PGA Tour victory and his sixth worldwide win in just a little over 12 months.
With Tiger Woods out for an extended time, Scott may be able to get comfortable with the No. 1.