Whether deserved or not, Adam Scott has the reputation as a golfer who struggles to close out tournaments.

So when Scott began the final round with the 54 hole lead, many were anxious to see how he would finish. Earlier this season Scott won the European Tour’s Qatar Masters with a final round 61. Considering his strong play during today’s victory at the TPC Las Colinas, many will be reconsidering their view on the young Australian’s ability to close. With a cold front moving through the area, cooler temperatures and gusting winds made the difficult course play even harder.

Scott faltered early in the round, with a bogey on the first hole and a double on the par three fifth hole. Ryan Moore began the day among a tight group chasing Scott and quickly caught him after birdies on 7 and 8. For much of the day Scott and Moore remained tied. Scott looked to distance himself on the driveable par 4 11th. After crushing a drive just past the green he left himself a short chip for eagle. Scott would leave with a disappointing par after running his chip five feet past and failing to convert his birdie opportunity. Almost simultaneously Moore stumbled as well with bogies on 13 and 14 to give Scott a one shot lead. However, almost as quickly as he got the lead, Scott would lose it when Moore birdied 16 and 17. A final par on 18 and Moore posted a final score of -7 to lead Scott by one.

Scott stepped onto 18th tee and it looked like the self-fulfilling prophecy was once again coming true – another lead and another loss. However something was different about today. Earlier on 17 with the pin on the far right of the green, Scott pulled his tee shot to the left leaving himself a long, difficult putt that had to traverse several ridges. It would have been an easy three putt during a practice round but Scott was burdened with the pressure of a championship. But he hit an excellent lag putt for a relatively easy par. On 18, Scott’s drive found the fairway leaving himself a short iron in which finished just behind the hole leaving a realistic birdie putt to tie Moore. After reading his putt, he picked a line, hit it, and it dropped to the bottom of the cup. Scott said, I hit it, I had a look, and it felt like it was pretty high. But it did break in the end and went in the middle, too."

The playoff began on the 18th. Moore hit his drive just off the fairway into the right rough but his approach found the green pin high. Scott hit a huge drive in the middle of the fairway and with 94 yards to the pin, his approach finished just inside Moore’s. Both players would two putt and take the playoff to the 196 yard par 3 17th. On the 17th, it was Moore who pulled his tee shot this time and left himself with a very difficult two putt similar to the one Scott faced in regulation. Scott took a daring line on his tee shot and it just barely cleared the hazard and bounced to a realistic birdie opportunity. Moore hit a tremendous lag putt that traversed the green to finish close to the pin and managed to make par. Scott missed his birdie putt and the two went back to 18 continuing the playoff.

The scales seemed to tip in Moore’s favor when Scott’s tee shot found the edge of the bunker, leaving him with a difficult stance and the ball below his feet. Moore hit the fairway and sent his approach just past the pin to the back edge of the green. The tension built as Scott took his stance and hit his 105 yard approach shot that came up well short leaving him a difficult 48 foot putt. As Scott lined up his putt he had a good feeling, "I had a pretty good line on it. Sometimes you can just see them straight away, and I got a good grip on that one. I had Tony (my caddy) looking at every other putt for me in the playoff, and I didn’t have him look at that one. Not that he can’t read a putt (laughter), but I just had a good feeling," said Scott.

The crowd roared as Scott’s putt tracked right on the hole and disappeared in the bottom of the cup. Moore still had an opportunity to extend the playoff, but his putt barely hit the lip and darted out of the hole leaving Scott with his first PGA Tour victory of the 2008 season.

One of the criticisms faced by Scott and some of the other young players on PGA Tour is a lack of "killer instinct" especially compared with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Scott rationalized his calm demeanor on the course saying, "I struggle to bring that out to show people. I don’t play well if I get too pumped up, if I don’t bring myself back down to hit a shot. It doesn’t come out. I was grinding inside today. I was playing hard. I wasn’t going to let it slip. I felt like I worked hard all week." Indeed, with his tremendous performance to catch Ryan Moore in regulation and focus during the playoff, a lack of desire is one thing Scott will never have to prove again.