Adam Scott stands by broomstick putter after 3-putt finale at Aussie PGA

Adam Scott won’t be sweeping his broomstick putter into the garage any time soon -- despite three-putting to lose the Australian PGA Championship on the seventh and final playoff hole to Greg Chalmers Sunday.

Even after a woeful display on the greens at Royal Pines in which his own personal “Groundhog Day” had him failing four times to get winning putts to drop, the 2013 U.S. Masters winner blamed his approach shots rather than the stroke that will be outlawed at the start of 2016.

“I didn’t hit it close enough today to the hole,” Scott, who entered Sunday’s finale with a share of the lead, told reporters after his bid to defend his Aussie PGA title came to an inglorious end when he missed a four-footer for par to extend the match. “It wasn’t like I missed 10 footers today all day long. When you hit it outside 25 feet, there is almost the same chance you are going to three putt as two putt on tour. You have to hit it closer.”

Scott was one of four golfers to win major championships with anchored putting strokes, a style that will be banned as of Jan. 1, 2016. The other three -- Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA champion), Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open), and Ernie Els (2012 British Open) -- have begun practicing and playing with conventional putting methods.

While Scott played solidly in 2014 -- 11 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour -- he posted just one win, and his lag putting has been to blame, according to the St Marys-Mt Druitt Star’s Matt Murnane. Case in point -- Scott’s inefficiency on the greens last week, which earned him the distinction of finishing last in putting for the tournament, according to Phil Lutton of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Despite what seems to be a growing problem with the long wand, the looming anchoring prohibition, and a long layoff with his wife, Marie Kojzar, who is expecting the couple’s first child in February, Scott said he would not use the offseason to practice with a conventional putter.

Tick, tock.