Former Masters champion to miss Steve Williams' words of wisdom
Wednesday 5 November 2014 11:25, UK
Adam Scott will feel the absence of newly-retired caddie Steve Williams, says Rob Lee, but could profit from a fresh start…
Adam Scott is not only hunting titles at the moment, he’s also hunting a caddie after Steve Williams opted to retire.
Scott wants a permanent fixture but he doesn’t know who he wants that to be just yet, so I think it will be a process of trial and error.
Eventually Adam will unearth his man but for the time being it might help him cherry-picking bits from different caddies.
It will be like an interview scenario, with him giving one guy two weeks here and another two weeks there, while he may even borrow caddies from other players who are having a rest.
Eventually Adam will unearth his man – it could even be someone who is working for another golfer at the moment – but for the time being it might help him cherry-picking bits from different caddies.
That said, Scott will be sad to lose to the services of Steve because he was such a great influence on his game and helped him get over the line in big events and environments.
Adam can lack that bit of steel to go with his supreme talent, but Steve has been able to provide him with inner-desire, something that played a large part in his Masters win and rise to World No 1.
This season hasn’t been vintage for the World No 2, who has only won one event, but it’s precarious when you’re ducking and diving at the top of the rankings as you can’t be bob on your game every week.
The pattern is for players to get there, stay there for a while and then fall away, unless they’re Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy, a man with the ability to dominate this generation for the foreseeable future.
Still, Adam remains a wonderful player capable of winning anywhere and I think he will be a main contender at this week’s WGC-HSBC Champions – even though my money is on Sergio Garcia.
Garcia went back to a more normal putting grip last week for the first two days of the BMW Masters but I knew that wouldn’t last – and he duly reverted to the claw over the weekend and, despite not playing at his very best, finished in a tie for second.
Sergio has won at Sheshan before, in 2008; is No 3 in the world; and is re-cementing his place at the top of the sport, so I think he should be the clear favourite this week.
Justin Rose and Alexander Levy will be hard to stop, too, but as this event also counts on the PGA Tour a lot of the big Americans have come over, including Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth.
Ryan Moore could be in the best shape, though.
He successfully defended the CIMB Classic in Malaysia on Sunday and after winning like that and not having to deal with a major climate shift, there are lots of things in his favour.
Another one could be the course, because a lot of the Chinese venues have an American feel having been designed by the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Rees Jones.
The courses tend to have big bunkers and water hazards – I have yet to see a links course over there – so Moore and his pals should feel right at home.
