Great Scott, Adam!

After missing opportunities on the first two playoff holes, Adam Scott holed a 48-footer on the third one to defeat Ryan Moore and capture the EDS Byron Nelson Championship

Scott lost the three-stroke lead he held after the third round, but managed a birdie on 18 to get in the playoff.

By Steven Hawkins, AP

Photo By Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

April 27, 2008

IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Adam Scott made a 9-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to force a playoff, then made a 48-footer playing it again on the third playoff hole to beat Ryan Moore in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship on Sunday.

Playing the 18th hole for the third time in less than an hour, the second time in the playoff, Scott hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker to the right. He got his approach to the front of the green, then rolled the putt over two ridges and into the cup.

Moore still had a chance to force another hole, but his pin-high putt from the fringe skimmed just past the cup.

Scott, the Australian star who cut short a post-Masters trip home so not to waste his good play there, blew a three-stroke lead he carried into the final round. But he made the clutch shots when he needed them for his sixth PGA Tour victory, and first this season.

"I got away with one today," said Scott, at No. 10 in the world the highest-ranked player in the Nelson field.

The playoff started with both players making pars, first at No. 18 and then at the TPC Four Seasons' signature par 3, the 198-yard 17th hole, where Moore had taken a one-stroke lead in regulation by curling in a 12-foot birdie putt.

A playoff was fitting after a back-and-forth Sunday duel between Scott and Moore, who finished at 7-under 273, four shots ahead of Bart Bryant (72). Nicholas Thompson (67), Mark Hensby (69) and Carl Pettersson (69) finished tied for fourth at 2 under.

Moore had a closing 2-under 68, taking the lead with his birdie putt at No. 17 in regulation. Scott, playing in the final group behind Moore, saved par with a two-putt from 84 feet there minutes later before his playoff-forcing birdie at 18.

Playing conditions at the redesigned TPC Four Seasons changed drastically again after rain overnight combined with blustery conditions Sunday. It was an unseasonable cool day with temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees, with wind gusting to 30 mph making it feel cooler -- and making club selection harder.

The winning score was the highest since the Nelson moved to the Las Colinas venue in 1983. Only three other times had a winner failed to finish at least 10-under par, and two of those were in rain-shortened tournaments.

Scott missed opportunities to win on each of the first two playoff holes, leaving makable birdie putts short both times.

Moore's tee shot to start the playoff went way right into the gallery, but he made a great save to the green and was able to two-putt for par. Scott drove long in the fairway, then hit his approach under the hole.

When they were back to 17, Scott went for the flag tucked in the right front of the green beyond the lake, and landed the ball about 10 feet from the cup. Moore was well left off the fringe, near the same area where Scott was in regulation, but both two-putted, sending them to 18 again.

Moore played for only the third time in 10 weeks, having taken some extra time off this spring instead of continuing to play through the pain of a sore shoulder and surgically repaired left hand still bothering him two years later. He opened with a 67 for a share of the lead.

"After this week, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season," Moore said.

It was the fourth career runner-up finish for Moore, the first player since Tiger Woods to skip Q-school and go straight from college to the PGA Tour finally has his first victory. Woods got his first victory in his seventh tournament as a professional, while Moore is still looking for his first after 70 tournaments since 2005, after he was a four-time All-American at UNLV.