Adam Scott celebrated taking the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings by holing a seven-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to turn back PGA champion Jason Dufner and win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Scott closed with a second straight 4-under-par 66, bouncing back from a bogey-6 on the ninth hole with three birdies on the back nine, to claim his 12th victory on the PGA Tour and became the first player to complete the Texas Slam. He also has won the Byron Nelson Championship, the Shell Houston Open and the Valero Texas Open.
“This would have been a really special week, no matter what,” said Scott, who last year became the first Aussie to win the Masters. “It’s great to win on this course because it’s a real beauty.
“It was a bit of an up-and down week (he was 4-over after nine holes on Thursday), but it was great to come back and win on this course. I really wanted to win all of these tournaments in Texas.”
Dufner, trying to win for the first time since his PGA victory last August at Oak Hill, also finished with a 66, holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to get into the playoff. But after both players made par on the first extra hole and birdie on the second, he missed a 30-foot birdie try before Scott holed the winner.
Nicholas Thompson, brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson who claimed his biggest pro victory in the 2007 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship on the Web.com Tour, shot 67 and wound up one stroke back in a tie for third with Freddie Jacobson of Sweden, who also came in at 67.
David Toms, the 2001 PGA champion trying to win on the PGA Tour for the first time since the 2011 Colonial, could manage only a 70 and was two shots back in a tie for fifth with David Lingmerth of Sweden (66), Ryan Palmer (67), Brendon Todd (68) and John Senden of Australia (68).
