Rough finish for defending champ Scott

AUGUSTA Ga. — Adam Scott looked so smooth, so comfortable and so in charge early in this Masters, it appeared he might be en route to defending his green jacket. He shot 69 in the opening round and 72 in the second round and was in position entering the weekend.

But he never made a move on the weekend, dooming his chances of becoming the first Masters champion to repeat since Tiger Woods in 2001-2002 with a third-round 76 on Saturday. His final-round 72 on Sunday left him nowhere close to contention.

“It’s been a week I’ll never forget, the experiences I’ve had in playing a tournament as the defending champion and as a champion, and all the ovations that you receive around here is amazing memories for me,’’ Scott said. “As far as my game goes, I was really happy with where I put myself on Friday night. And without overanalyzing it, it’s always a bit here or there. But a poor nine holes on Saturday stopped all my momentum and had me on the back foot and I just couldn’t go anywhere from there.

“That’s what it’s like at majors. You’re nine good holes from winning it and nine bad holes from being out of it.’’

Scott lamented his putting as the primary culprit this week.

“It’s not been my best week with the putter,’’ he said. “My pace was off on the long putts, and when it gets on fire around here [the greens fast], you’re going to have a lot of long putts. I missed my share of them and had some 3-putts and it just makes it very hard to have really good scores every day around here.”

Quietly, one of the best stories of this Masters was the way Kevin Stadler played in his first time. Stadler, whose father, Craig, won the 1982 Masters, finished even par for the week, tied for eighth, which is good enough to qualify him for the 2015 Masters. The top 12 finishers and ties get a Masters invite the following year.

“I felt when I came out here a couple of weeks ago that the golf course suits my game,’’ Stadler said. “I made a lot of very obvious rookie errors out there with a number of shots thrown away.’’

Earlier in the week , Craig Stadler said he would play his final Masters when his son qualified for the tournament. That may change now that Kevin will be back next year. Craig, who is 60, shot 82-77 and missed the cut — something he has done since 2008.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do,” Kevin Stadler said. “It’s been a great week having him be out here. It would be cool if he played again. I totally get it if he doesn’t want to. The golf course is too long, too tough for him anymore. But I think he would still plan on coming out, regardless, playing the [Par 3 Contest] and all that stuff. But he loves coming here.

“But his score don’t show, but he’s still super-competitive, and he hates putting up the numbers that he puts up around here. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s gone, but I’d prefer him to come back.”

Oliver Goss, the only amateur in the field to make the cut, finished 10-over for the week and was awarded the crystal as the low amateur, becoming the first Australian to accomplish the feat. Goss, who plays for the University of Tennessee, will play the US Open next. … Joost Luiten shot the low round of the day with a 5-under 67.