Adam Scott: His steady play overcomes the Genesis Invitational field

From the fairways and on the greens, Adam Scott outlasts Kuchar and McIlroy to take the Genesis Invitational.

Adam Scott won the Genesis Invitational at Riviera by two strokes Sunday because he played the steadiest, if not the most spectacular, game.

Scott entered the final round tied for the lead with Matt Kuchar and Rory McIlroy, all at 203. On Sunday, Scott seized command by using Kuchar’s greatest strength against him, and by taking advantage of all his challengers’ weaknesses.

Riviera, of course, has a way of exposing those weaknesses. Opened in 1926, it was the site of the 1948 U.S. Open, and has hosted the Tour’s Los Angeles stop 75 times, including virtually annually since the mid 1970s. It is considered one of the nation’s classic courses.

Sunday’s final round set Scott’s all-around game against Kuchar’s exceptional putting and McIlroy’s superb driving skills with Riviera as the decisive palette.

Kuchar continued to putt well Sunday, and McIlroy continued to drive well. But neither could maintain Scott’s steady, evenly skilled play. It was that evenness that allowed Scott to stand above his competitors’ weaknesses.

The Strokes Gained data for Sunday’s final round amply illustrates Scott’s edge. Keeping in mind that the three entered that final round tied for the lead, here’s how each player’s final round performance in the four major Strokes Gained areas broke down:

                               SG Tee   SG Approach      SG Around          SG Putt     Total

Scott                       0.71          0.41                    -1.15                      2.03         2.00

Kuchar                  -0.21        -2.09                      0.44                      1.86         0.00

McIlroy                   1.41        -1.45                      1.15                     -2.11      -1.00

McIlroy drove the ball as well as he ever does Sunday…but his fairway and putting games went to pot. Kuchar, whose putting had carried him to the first and second round leads, again performed well on the challenging Riviera greens. But his irons betrayed him.

Adam Scott mitigated McIlroy’s strength off the tee and bettered Kuchar on the greens. But his true advantage, the skill on which his Sunday advantage was constructed, lay in his facility with those irons. He built a 2.50 stroke advantage over Kuchar from the fairways and left McIlroy two strokes behind.

The result was a closing 70, two strokes better than Kuchar and three ahead of McIlroy.

Sung Kang and Scott Brown came from third-round ties for 8th and 11th respectively to make furtive runs at Scott, but at three and four strokes entering Sunday, both were too far back to make up ground on a player evincing no weakness.

Kang was one of the few players all week who could keep up with Scott from the fairways. Through the first three rounds, he picked up 6.88 strokes approaching the greens, making him about the only player in the field to better Scott in that skill.

But Kang like McIlroy and Kuchar lacked the overall game to maximize that narrow advantage. On Sunday, Kanga actually outplayed Scott from the fairways, gaining another 1.62 strokes on the field and – by extension – about 1.2 strokes on Scott.

Where Kang fell behind was off the tee. On Sunday he surrendered a full stroke to Scott by his inaccurate driving, then gave up another seven-tenths of a stroke with his putter. All of this lead to Adam Scott taking down the rest of the field at the Genesis Invitational.