Scott Wins Second Straight Australian Masters


Adam Scott has a shown a knack for staging "masterful" performances the past two years. On Sunday, the 33-year-old captured his second straight Australian Masters. That title will accompany the Masters he won in-between - the one that takes place every year at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

The 33-year-old from Adelaide shot an even-par 71 at a windswept Royal Melbourne to finish at 14-under 270, two shots ahead of American Matt Kuchar (68) and four ahead of Fiji's Vijay Singh (71).

Kuchar held a two-stroke lead until Scott birdied the 15th and Kuchar bogeyed the 16th. A hole earlier, a birdie and Scott's double-bogey after a plugged lie in a bunker gave Kuchar his two-stroke lead. But Kuchar doubled the last to lose by two to Scott.

Scott, who won last week's Australian PGA in his first tournament back in Australia after winning the Masters in April, carded four birdies, two bogeys and the double on the par-3 14th. He rebounded from that miscue with his final birdie of the day and three straight pars.

"I usually like looking at the leaderboard, but it wasn't enjoyable today," Scott said of the name changes. "I made a lot of errors, but I managed to hang on."

In addition to Scott - the No. 2-ranked player in the world - and Kuchar, the other headliner of the Australian Masters was Jarrod Lyle, who returned to competition following a second bout with leukemia.

After making the cut, Lyle posted weekend rounds of 70 and 79. An admittedly exhausted Lyle was met with loud applause as he approached the 18th green.

"I played five days in a row, including the pro-am, and the last nine holes I started to feel it," he said. "I got around, and it's not the end I wanted. But it's better than I thought it would be: three good rounds and one shocker, that's golf."

For all the scores, visit http://www.pga.org.au/scores.