Better Masters Pick Right Now: Adam Scott or Bubba Watson?
By Ryan Andrade
If we base Masters favorites on recent play, look no further than Adam Scott and Bubba Watson.
Masters Week is just five weeks away! So what does that mean? It means we talk Augusta favorites of course!
If we are looking at how some of the best golfers in the field are playing right now, two players really stand out: 2013 Masters Champion Adam Scott, and 2-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson. Yes, we all still expect Jordan Speith, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Rickie Fowler to get things in gear and play well at Augusta. Right now however, there is no way you can say the two clear favorites are not Adam Scott and Bubba Watson.
For starters they have won the last three events on the PGA TOUR. In that stretch they have each finished runner up once to each other. They are taking over the game at the moment. It was right about the point where we decided to go from “Big 3” to “Big 4” talk. Adam and Bubba are saying, hey you guys might be younger, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat you.
We don’t like to admit it, but the real reason we won’t put Adam Scott or Bubba Watson in that category of best in the game is their age. But it’s not like they’re old. Scott is 35 and Bubba is 37, and both still have plenty good years left. They just don’t have their entire career ahead of them like Spieth, McIlroy, Day, and Fowler have.
The “Big 4” gets us excited about the future of golf. We have seen what each of these players can do when they are on, and we believe they are only going to get better.
Live Feed
FanSided
Regardless, it’s no question Adam Scott and Bubba Watson are playing like the best in the world right now. Whether you put them into the ‘big’ whatever, it isn’t going to be a factor in whether they will be able to win the Masters at Augusta.
So who would you pick right now, Adam Scott or Bubba Watson? I think one is a lot safer than the other one, and it might not be the one you are thinking.
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, OI OI OI!!! Yes, give me Adam Scott. Winner of the last two PGA TOUR events and first two events of the Florida swing.
As I watched Adam Scott this past week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, I found myself in absolute awe of his golf swing. It is the greatest swing in the world. It’s one any person can try to emulate, because it is so simple. He has no wasted motion at all. The club stays on a perfect plane as he takes the club back until it reaches parallel at the top of the swing. He uses the ground so well to generate his power as he uncoils coming through. You wonder how he could ever hit a bad shot with that swing, and Scott rarely does.
He is the best ball striker in the world right now, as evidence by his #1 ranking in strokes gained from tee to green. When you are hitting the ball that well, it’s just really difficult to beat. If you putt even average, your going to be in a great position.
That brings us to the obvious thing about Adam Scott we are all thinking about. Can he putt with the short putter? He has used the anchored stroke for a few years now and we have become accustomed to seeing him have fairly decent success. I mean he won a major didn’t he? That’s something Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler can’t say.
Adam Scott has putted a lot better this season than I was really expecting. Quite honestly, I thought Scott’s career would go into a tailspin after the anchoring ban, but I was quick to forget that Scott has 8 wins using the short putter. So it’s not like it is something completely foreign.
If I was to knock anything about Scott’s putting it’s that he hasn’t really had great touch with the longer putts. I imagine he will just continue to get better in that area as he gets more accustomed to hitting long putts with his grip, which is very close to Sergio Garcia’s claw grip. That’s why Phil Mickelson has been using a normal grip for the longer putts, and the claw grip for the shorter ones to give him more feel.
Inside of 15 feet, I have been really impressed with Scott’s ability to hole putts. We saw down the stretch at Doral he was able to make shorter putts that we have seen him struggle with even with the anchored putter.
More from Pro Golf Now
- Golf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning deal
- Fantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player Selections
- Brutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024
- Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at Concession
- Fantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament
As a matter of fact, I would trust Adam Scott a lot more than Bubba Watson with a 7 footer for par on the back nine on Sunday. Bubba Watson has one of the most inconsistent putting strokes I have ever seen. He makes some really quality, confident strokes at times, and other times he completely decelerates. When he decelerates it just makes me want to tear my eyeballs out. A lot of the time it looks like he just hits it and hopes.
You might ask yourself, well how does he have two wins at Augusta then? For starters, he is left handed. This means he can fade the ball, because the majority of holes move from right to left. Then Bubba hits it a mile. I mean it’s 1a and 1b with him and Dustin Johnson. Last, Bubba just has amazing imagination and hands. He can work the ball from any direction, from any lie, to any pin. His ball striking can make up for his questionable putting certain weeks. He doesn’t have to make the same amount of putts as say a Jordan Spieth would, because Bubba is always up there in the strokes gained tee to green.
So yes, the difference from Adam Scott and Bubba Watson right now is the putter. Strange how that works out sometimes.
Next: Early Betting Odds for the 2016 Masters
My pick? Adam Scott is in the prime of his career. This is really time for him to get as many wins and majors as he can. I don’t think he has ever been in a better place, both mentally and physically, than he is right now.