Why does Adam Scott have a club in his bag he almost never uses?

Adam Scott has 14 clubs in his bag. Nothing unusual about that. 

What is unusual is the fact that there’s one he rarely uses. In fact, by his own admission, he’s used it just twice in his last four tournaments.

Not rounds. Tournaments.

Allow us to explain.

The Aussie has two putters in the bag: one long, one short. He has wielded the long putter for a number of years and to pretty good effect. You might remember him holing seemingly everything with it when he won the Masters in 2013.

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However, over the last couple of months, it has been joined by a short putter. We’ll leave it to the 38-year-old to explain why.

“I put it in to try and hole a few more putts, you know, at 15 to 20 feet which is where I’ve really been poor,” he revealed. “Ever since it’s gone in, the stroke has just really gotten so much better with the long one that I haven’t really thought about pulling it out.”

The only two times he has used the short putter so far, however, were during the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.

“I used it on one green in Akron,” he said. “I hit two putts with it, and then I put it back in the bag.”

Scott added that he made way for the additional putter by taking out his 3- and 4-irons and putting in a ‘strengthened’ 4-iron.

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The extra putter has also caught the eye of Scott’s playing partners, leading to a funny incident at Firestone.

“I can’t remember who I was playing with the first day at Akron, but they were worried for Sponge [caddie Mike Waite] because it was his first day and they thought I had 15 clubs in the bag,” laughed the Aussie. “Although they didn’t say anything, so they weren’t that worried.”