ADAM SCOTT threw away a golden opportunity to go to number one on the world golf rankings Needing victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to achieve that Scott started well and had a seven- shot lead going into the final two rounds.
Unfortunately for Scott, his putting stroke deserted him on the weekend and he needed a whopping 63 strokes with his putter on the final two rounds at Bay Hill. Scott, who uses an anchored putter, putted poorly over the weekend.
His struggles on the greens offered further proof that the anchored stroke – which will be banned on January 1 2016 – is not a cure for putting problems
Scott had a great opportunity to prove that he deserves the No 1 ranking, but his play in the last two rounds did little to prove his credentials for occupying the number one ranking.
The tournament was eventually won by Matt Every on 13-under while Keegan Bradley was second on 12-under. Scott eventually finished third on 11-under par. Matt Every victory was his first PGA Tour victory and earned him a spot at the Masters in two weeks.
The Masters will be there for anyone to take as there is no golfer stepping up to win frequently on the tour. Aside from Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed, who have a combined five wins this season, no other golfer has multiple wins, but both Walker and Reed have never played in the Masters and it’s highly unlikely that one of them could conjure a win in their maiden appearance.
Among the top contenders for the Masters will be Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. But both have been having their own problems. Woods will now likely keep his No 1 ranking heading to the Masters dealing with a bad back and off to the worst start of his career.
While Rory had a chance to close out a victory at the Honda Classic, only to shoot a very poor final round and lose in a play-off.
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In Harare Ignatius Mketekete came from behind once again to win the Pre-Open Classic at Royal Harare for a second consecutive victory on the Zambezi Tour in two weeks. Mketekete, who was basking in the glory of winning the Tour Players’ Championship.
Mketekete who was one shot behind Charamba with nine holes to play showed character on the back nine to recover and eventually beat Charamba. The battle appeared set for another play-off until the 17th hole when Charamba made a bogey after his second shot went over the green.
Charamba eventually finished in a tie for second place with Micky Hough, Zambian Madalitso Muthiya, Ryan Cairns and Tranos Muradzikwa on three under-par. The second tournament on the Zambezi Tour for 2014 attracted 57 players.
The two tournaments held so far have done well to give the local professionals the much-needed match practice ahead of the Zimbabwe Open which runs from April 10th 2014 to April 13th 2014 at Royal Harare.
The local professionals had not had a tournament since the Hwange Open in December last year.
