Saturday 7 March 2015 07:19, UK
Adam Scott admitted he is still not entirely comfortable with a conventional putter despite hauling himself into a share of second place at the halfway stage of the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
The Australian is making his first start of the season at the Trump Doral after taking an extended break following the birth of his first child, but he showed little signs of rust as rounds of 70 and 68 lifted him to six under par.
Scott also chose this week to revert to a short putter, having wielded a broom-handled wand for the last few seasons, and the move has been positive over the first 36 holes at the Blue Monster.
After starting on the 10th in round two, the 2013 Masters champion rolled in four birdie putts in a back-nine 32 and he bounced back from bogeys at the third and fourth with further birdies at six and eight.
His 68 gave him the early clubhouse lead, and he was keen to play down his much-publicised switch back to a conventional-length putter ahead of the impending ban on anchored strokes from January 2016.
"I've been playing a lot of golf at home with friends and family, thinking about it a lot and trying to come out better than I left last year,” he told Sky Sports 4.
“I've been working hard on a few things and managed to take it from the range to the course this week so far.
"I putted well in the past with a short one, but felt I was very streaky. I had hot rounds and really poor rounds with the putter and the long putter just got me some consistency, taught me a few fundamentals I think for putting and I've managed to adapt that with the short one.
"I had all that time at home to fiddle around and get comfortable with it so I thought I may as well make the adjustment now rather than stress at the end of this year."
