Adam Scott rehires Steve Williams to caddie at 2015 majors

Adam Scott, who has dropped from No. 1 in the golf world to No. 12, surprised observers when he announced on Monday, not that he was returning to an unanchored putting style, but that his semi-retired caddie Steve Williams would rejoin him for the meat of the PGA Tour schedule.

Looks like the tour has its next “My Buddy” commercial all but in the can.

The duo teamed up to capture the “greatest” win in the career of Williams (who was on Tiger Woods’ bag for 13 of his 14 major titles), the 2011 Bridgestone Invitational, as well as Scott’s most impressive victory, the 2013 Masters. They split up at the end of the 2014 season when it appeared that Williams’ plan to work part-time going forward was not to his boss’ liking.

The breakup was far friendlier than Williams’ parting from Woods, who fired his longtime looper in 2011, and seemed to leave the door open for a potential reunion if both parties were amenable to it.

“If the right opportunity arose I would consider caddying on a part-time basis in the future,” Williams, who began working for Scott full-time in 2011 after getting the heave-ho from Woods, said at the time.

Looks like the “right opportunity” for caddying on a “part-time basis” will begin at the U.S. Open later this month. Scott, who gave caddie Mike Kerr his walking papers last week, said in a statement he would have Williams by his side at Chambers Bay, the British Open, for the fourth anniversary of their Bridgestone victory and at the PGA Championship.

“Steve was adamant that he was not going to caddie in 2015, so he took some convincing, but I am very happy he’s agreed to help out,” Scott said in a statement. “We’ve had great success together, so I’m looking forward to being on the links with Steve again.”

No doubt having Williams’ guidance will be helpful for Scott, who has one top-10 finish, two missed cuts and a T38 at the Masters in nine tour events in 2015 without the Kiwi handing him clubs.

But even an increased comfort level for Scott does not address the broomstick-sized elephant on the green.

The 34-year-old Australian tinkered with a conventional-length putter earlier this year.

After mixed results, however, he went back to jamming his old faithful 49-inch Scotty Cameron Futura X model under his chin — and remains loyal to the stick with which he three-jacked away the 2014 Australian PGA Championship.

Scott accumulated another three shots from short distance at last month’s Players Championship.

With performances like those, it’s no mystery that Scott’s putting stats have plummeted from 55th in 2014 to 191st on tour in the all-important “strokes gained-putting” category.

Perhaps Williams can plumb-bob those 3-footers, but despite Steve’s calming influence, it’s unclear how the presence of his old buddy will help the Aussie drop anchoring, which he will have to do by Jan. 1, 2016, no matter who’s handling the luggage.