Congrats to Keegan Bradley.  He single-handedly brought about the Golfpocalypse by winning a major championship with a belly putter.  What’s that sound?  I think it’s Alan Shipnuck and Steve Elling having heart attacks.

Seriously though, I have no problems with long putters.  And I think that given Kegan’s dramatic victory yesterday and Adam Scott’s use of a long putter this season leading up to his win last week at the WGC, we may be seeing more and more long/belly putters on greens across America.

Here’s the video of Bradley’s awesomely clutch putt on 17.

Oh yeah I almost forgot… eventually the media types did get around to talking to Adam Scott on Sunday.  I mean all he did was walk around the course and hit all the shots.  It’s not like he had to carry a bag or wear a caddie bib or anything.  You can check out his interview after the jump.

Adam Scott played some incredible golf this week with Steve Williams on his bag.  While still live on the air after the tournament was finished, CBS sent David Feherty over to grab Stevie for an interview.

Still fuming due to “wasting two years” of his life, he made sure to mention several times that he’s been caddying for over 32 years, has over 140 wins and this was the best week of his life.  In other words, “Screw you Tiger.  You fired me and my new loop kicked your ass this week.”

I don’t have any particular problem with the comment because I’m sure that right now, given that fact that he was at a professional low point a few weeks ago, he really does feel like this is the best week he’s ever had on the bag.  He may not feel that way a few years from now, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Stevie went on to give an impromptu interview session with reporters at the tournament and provided this gem among others: “like I said, there’s a lot of expectations on Adam, not just myself. I mean, it’s hard to explain, but he’s under pressure a little bit, too”.  Yep, Stevie definitely doesn’t have an ego [sarcasm alert].

I’m sure Stevie’s not too upset that he took home about $140k this week as his cut of Scott’s purse  while Tiger won about $70k.

You can check out the video of Stevie’s interview with Feherty here and the transcript from his Q&A session with reporters after the tournament after the break:

From Golf Digest:

Q. What does it mean to you?

STEVE WILLIAMS: I think it’s always when you go to caddie for another player, it’s no different to when you start with a new player. The very most important thing is when you get the first opportunity to have a win is to try and show them that you know what you’re doing. It’s easier said than done. I think it just validates what I told Adam and what we were trying to achieve. So getting the first win is very important. I think that takes a lot of pressure off going forward.

Q. The comfort level that you have with him now, do you feel like it’s a relationship that’s going to last for a long time?

STEVE WILLIAMS: Why do you ask that? (Laughter.) I’m going to be straight up and honest. I’m on the downside of my caddying career. I live in New Zealand and I’ve been caddying for 33 years. I’d like to help Adam get across the line and try and win a major championship. That’s my goal with Adam, obviously, and when that point comes, I’ll decide from there. But I’m certainly on my downside, there’s no two days about that.

Q. What intangibles do you bring to the job?

When it was first posted on Golfwrx that Steve Williams was spotted on a DC-bound flight today, many people assumed that it was bad info or that Stevie was just planning on attending the event.  Nobody seemed to think that it was really possible he was on his way to Congressional to caddie for somebody other than Tiger.

That is until the story broke that Stevie would be on Adam Scott’s bag this week.  Of course this is going to fire up all kinds of speculation about Tiger/Stevie, Tiger’s health and future in golf, etc.

But the bottom line is that Williams and Scott are friends, Scott had an open bag this week, and once Tiger gave it the OK, Stevie was on his way to Congressional to help out a pal.

Given Scott’s performance at Augusta and his renewed success on the greens with a long putter, you have to wonder if this might be the week that Scott finally breaks through and wins a major.

[Image Flicker/Keith Allison]

This week the world’s best (well except for Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy) are gathered at the TPC Sawgrass for the so called “fifth major”, the Players Championship.  Like many others, I think the “fifth major” label is stretching it a bit, but if you just went by the coverage on the Golf Channel, you’d think the US Open was being held this week.

That said, the Players Championship is always a fun tournament to watch and the notoriously difficult island green on the par-3 17th is one of the most exciting holes in golf.  So who do I think will emerge victorious on Sunday?

Luke Donald – The world #3 is an easy pick this week.  He extremely accurate off the tee and a great putter.  According to the new Strokes Gained – Putting statistic, he was actually the best putter on tour in 2009 and 2010.

Because he’s not a bomber, there are certain courses where it’s difficult for him to contend, but last year Tim Clark showed us all that you don’t have to be a huge hitter to win the Players.

Adam Scott – Scott had an incredible week at the Masters and followed that up with a solid outing at the Valero Texas Open.  He’s taken the last couple of weeks off, so he should arrive at the first tee on Thursday rested and ready to go.

Scott has always been a solid ball-striker and has historically been held back by his putting.  He definitely seems to have found something with the long putter though.  So if he’s able to maintain that, we’ll likely see him in contention on Sunday.

Tommy Gainey – Gainey is definitely a bit of a dark horse pick.  He had two consecutive 3rd place finishes at the Heritage and Zurich but then followed that with a MC at Quail Hollow.  It seems like Gainey is either in the mix or misses the cut.  That’s just a reflection of his go-for-broke playing style.

It’s a lot of fun watching Gainey and his home-made swing out there amongst all the picture-perfect swings on Tour.  I’d love to see him walk up to the 17th tee with a chance to win on Sunday.

Ben Crane – Ben Crane was one of my dark horse picks at the Masters.  That didn’t turn out so hot.  But I think he actually has a great chance at the TPC Sawgrass.  In his last 3 years here, his worst finish is 6th.  For whatever reason, he just plays really well on this course.

Martin Kaymer – Wow, Derek, you’re taking such a risk picking the world #2 and #3 players this week.  I know, by world ranking, Kaymer should be a favorite to win this week.  But after his missed cut at the Masters, he’s not at the top of many people’s list this week.

At the end of the day he is the #2 player in the world and got there for a reason.  He’s got something to prove after Augusta and I think this could be the week he does it.

OK, maybe long putters aren’t cool, but it does seem that Adam Scott has at least made long putters an acceptable option for players that previously wouldn’t consider one.  Lee Westwood put one in play at the Masters.  Ernie Els is reportedly thinking about bagging one this week at the Verizon.   and are right there with him (even though Greene thinks they should be illegal).

Bill Haas is also apparently considering making the switch  after Brendan Steele used a belly putter to win the Valero last weekend.  Tiger was even photographed practicing a long putter stroke during his golf tour of Asia last week.  After all of his 3 putts on Sunday at the Masters, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s at least been testing one.

When asked about Scott’s success at the Masters with a long putter, Anthony Kim quipped, “Obviously it’s working for him.  Maybe I should go try it.”

In the past, putting a belly putter in your bag was a tacit admission that you had some serious putting problems and you were looking for something… anything to save your game.  But now with players like Scott and Steele having success with long putters, players seem to be viewing it as another tool to play better… even if they hold their noses while using it.

Personally, I’ve tried a both a belly putter and a long putter in the past and found that I putted worse with them.  But I don’t have a problem with people using them.  Unless somebody in my foursome shows up with one and beats me.  Then they should be illegal.

Charley Hoffman hits out of a greenside bunker during Round 2 of the Valero Texas Open

If Kevin Na’s 16 yesterday wasn’t enough proof that the TPC San Antonio Oaks course has teeth, then today’s round should be.  The round came to a close with 7 players tied for the lead at 3-under par.  Red numbers were few and far between on the scoreboard, and players that managed to hold their ground found themselves surging up the leaderboard.

Heading into Saturday, the lead is shared by Rich Beem, Geoff Ogilvy, Kevin Sutherland, Brandt Snedeker, Charley Hoffman, Kevin Chappell, and Brendan Steele.  The cut moved to +4 late in the day.

As you might have guessed though, Kevin Na didn’t wasn’t under the cut line after after his 16 yesterday.  He did however, manage to keep his ball in play today off the 9th tee.  His tee shot ended up in the right rough, I’m sure causing a momentary flashback to yesterday’s debacle.  He made par, but he struggled on the rest of the course today, shooting a 77.

There were plenty of other big numbers out there today including Mike Weir and Chris Baryla who carded 83 and 87 respectively.  Apparently the Texas course conditions didn’t agree with the Canadians.

They weren’t alone though.  13 players broke par and 13 players shot 80 or higher.  The scoring average of 75.289 was the highest since the first round of the 2008 British Open.  Did I mention that conditions were tough?

Mike Weir struggled today in the tough course conditions

Look for a wild weekend as 22 players are within 3 shots of the lead group.  Adam Scott is one back at 2-under and J.B. Holmes and Ricky Barnes head up the group at 1-under.

The star of Wednesday’s events at the TPC San Antonio AT&T Oaks Course (what a mouthful) was, without a doubt, Adam Scott.  Scott is fresh off of a T2 finish at the Masters, where he had the lead on the back nine until Charl Schwartzel made 4 consecutive birdies coming in to grab the win.

If his play in today’s pro-am was any indication, Scott has found a way to maintain his Master’s form.  He seemed to be enjoying himself after taking a couple of days off following Sunday’s exciting finish:

It’s certainly a big  let down I think mentally or emotionally after any Major… So… like I said, it was important for me to have a couple of days where I did not do much…

The most noticeable change in Scott’s game has been the switch to a long putter, which he used to great effect at Augusta.  For the time being, the long putter will remain in the bag:

Certainly the four times I’ve used it I’ve putted well so for now, yeah, it’s in.

If he keeps playing this well with the long putter, I suspect that we’ll be seeing a lot more of them showing up at bag drops all over the country.

While Scott certainly seems like a strong pick to win this week, there are a number of other players who will have something to say about that.  2011 event winners Jhonattan Vegas and Martin Laird are in the field.  Geoff Ogilvy is coming off of a strong finish at Augusta, as is Bo Van Pelt, who made 2 eagles on the back nine Sunday.  And don’t forget San Antonio native, Jimmy Walker, who already has 3 top-10′s this year.

But clearly Scott isn’t deterred:

[I'm] looking forward to getting out there and geting those good feeling happening again from last year and also carrying on the good feelings I had going on the golf course last week.

Clearly the putting advice worked well for Schwartzel. What else can you say? He putted well all day and lights out on the last 4 holes. Combine that with a chip-in birdie and a hole-out for eagle earlier in the round and you have yourself a green jacket.

I’ve also got to say that the long putter really seems to be working well for Adam Scott. I can’t imagine how many would have been sold if he had pulled off the victory. Putting has always been his achille’s heel but he looked very comfortable out there on the greens this week. Hopefully he’ll be able to take this momentum forward into next week’s title defense at the Valero Open.

I’ll be honest.  I was really rooting for Adam Scott to win the Masters.  Mostly because a) I wanted to use the headline “Great Scott!!!”, b) he could have single-handedly made long putters cool and c) I don’t have any pictures of Charl Schwartzel to post.  So instead I’m using a picture of Rick Moranis from Spaceballs, because he definitely knows the “Power of the Schwartz(el)”.

Schwartzel earned his victory at the 2011 Masters.  He was 1-behind Adam Scott, who looked destined to finally break through with a victory in a major.  But with 4 to play Schwartzel reeled off 4 straight birdies to get to 14-under, 2-strokes ahead of Scott and Jason Day.  That included an amazingly confident birdie putt on 17, which I believe was only the 5th birdie there all day.

Schwartzel was on many people’s “Dark Horse” lists for the Masters.  After winning twice and finishing 8th on the European Tour Order of Merit last year, he joined the PGA Tour for 2011.  He chose one heck of a tournament to grab his first PGA Tour victory, becoming only the 3rd South African to win the Masters (Gary Player, Trevor Immelman).

Tiger Woods was the early clubhouse leader at 10-under but several missed putts on the back 9 (sound familiar?) kept him from contending once Scott surged into the lead at 11-under.  Still, his Sunday 67 was a great response to his 74 on Saturday.  He didn’t quite get it done, but he struck the ball well and showed us all that maybe he really is close to putting it all together.

And well what can we say about Rory McIlroy?  He looked like a sure thing when he finished Saturday at 12-under.  But he found out the hard way how impressive Tiger Wood’s major performances have been over the years.

It’s often said that there’s “Sunday pressure” in a golf tournament and then there’s “Sunday at Augusta”.  That was apparent when McIlroy turned into an 18-handicapper on the 10th and hacked his way to a triple-bogey.  He shot a 43 on the back nine to card an 80 for the day, finishing T15.

He’s young though and handled everything with class.  Hopefully he’ll be able to build on this experience and come back stronger than ever.

Ultimately this was one of the most exciting Master’s finishes in years.  Normally there’s only one or two guys who really have a shot at winning on Sunday afternoon.  With 9 holes to play, the tournament was wide open, and Schwartzel was the player that stepped up, executed, and walked away with a green jacket.  May the Schwartz(el) be with you.