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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Adam Scott did not win the Masters on Sunday merely for himself, Greg Norman and all of Australia.
He won it for the survival of the anchored putter.
Or did he?
With the idle time of too many rules-of-golf nerds, who find the need to tinker with a good thing, the anchored putter is headed for extinction with golf’s governing bodies — the United States Golf Association and Royal & Ancient — in lock-step at the moment to prohibit pros from around the world from using them beginning in 2016.
With Scott’s dramatic win on Sunday at Augusta National making it four of the last six major championships won by players using anchored putters, it should have been a banner day for the anchors and their supporters.
But, did it merely further inflame the raging debate that they are “too easy to use’’ or “not in the spirit of the way the golf swing was meant to be made’’ and should be banned.
I have to wonder if Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA champion), Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open champion) and Ernie Els (2012 British Open champion) were all doubled over in a collective cringe as they watched Scott make those clutch putts on 18 in regulation and then in the playoff to win because it brings more attention to the debate.
Leave the damned anchored putters and those who use them alone.
What is wrong with the game the way it is right now — or on Sunday when Scott, who couldn’t scare holes with so many putts early in the round, finally found some mojo and went for it on those final holes?
Sure, the broomstick is ugly. Sure, it looks like it doesn’t fit with the rest of the clubs in the bag and looks like it would be more useful shooing pesky mice and squirrels out of your attic.
In fact, Scott, with his magazine-cover looks that women swoon to, makes for a tremendous contrast using the thing — like the Adonis-looking dude sauntering around the beach in an ill-fitting tank top, jams and loafers and dark knee socks.
It doesn’t fit. But who cares? If the thing was so easy to use why isn’t everyone using it — and winning with it every week?
If those who rule the rules of golf snuff out the anchored putter, they might as well stop the equipment companies from making the heads of these drivers as large as some people’s second homes in the Hamptons.
Perhaps the most important matter to the underbelly (pun intended) of this issue is the powers who rule golf are constantly thumping their collective chests about growing the game and bringing more amateurs into it by making it more accessible.
There are countless millions of amateurs using anchor putters. Do you think they are going to dump those if the USGA and the R & A get their way and ban them? Of course not. They’re going to keep using them because they’re comfortable with them.
Then what you’ll have are two sets of rules separating pro and hacker golf, which would be the biggest calamity of all. Because one of the unique things golf has going for it is the fact that hackers can sometimes hit shots that somewhat resemble those the pro hits — whether those come once in awhile, once in a summer or once in a lifetime.
Those keep us coming back. Two sets of rules will kill that virtue of the game. A mid-level tennis player can never return an Andy Murray serve, but a mid-level golfer has a chance to hit a shot like Adam Scott or Tiger Woods every once in a blue moon — even if by accident.
That draws people to the game. Let’s keep them coming.