Adam Scott is poised to bring back a long-handled putter in this week's Australian PGA Championship in a move that is sure to catch the golf world's attention.
Former world No.1 Scott is coming off a relatively lean 2017 on the US PGA Tour, attributing his slide back to a world ranking of 31 to a lack of focus on golf around the birth of his second child.
But he could be courting controversy as he plots a change in fortunes next year.
The 37-year-old told reporters on Wednesday he was likely to reintroduce a long putter in the Australian PGA at Royal Pines starting on Thursday after using it in practice.
Scott famously won the 2013 Masters green jacket with a broomstick putter in hand but switched to a short putter before the ban on anchoring a putter against the body was introduced at the start of last year.
Scott said watching the success of long-putter users Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron, the top two on the (over 50s) Champions Tour money list this year with the first and second-best putting averages, had planted the seed.
"I haven't done that much work with it but it feels pretty good out there," Scott said.
"I think it might make the grade this week.
"I definitely feel very comfortable with it but I've just noticed, like everybody else, that Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron make everything they look at and have done since the anchoring ban and moving it away from the body.
"It was actually pointed out to me that this year they both recorded the best ever putting stats since stats have been kept.
"I don't know if it's a coincidence or if they've just had a really good year, but maybe they've found the best way to putt."
But those who have continued to use the long putter since the anchoring ban have come in for heavy scrutiny, with some querying whether it is being properly enforced.
Langer and McCarron have both defended the way they putt, saying they do not anchor their putters and have been cleared by officials, and they have had backing from US Golf Association who were instrumental in the new rule.
Scott's move this week will add another layer of intrigue to the battle for the Joe Kirkwood Cup, which is being defended by popular American Harold Varner III in a strong field that also includes reigning Masters champion Sergio Garcia and Marc Leishman, Australia's newly-crowned player of the player.
Leishman said he was high on confidence after a career-best season, which included wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and BMW Championship.
"(I want to) try and tick this tournament off the box," Leishman said.
"You grow up and these are the tournaments you watch as a kid.
"You see your idols playing and winning them and you want to win them. I'm no different."
