Adam Scott says the USPGA has 'laid down' by agreeing to a ban on anchored putting from 2016

Adam Scott says the US PGA Tour had "laid down", setting a poor precedent by agreeing to adopt the rule which will force him to abandon his anchored putting stroke.

The world number four has no plans to scrap the anchored long putter action that won him the Masters ahead of the January 1, 2016 deadline - leaving him 10 more majors before he has to do so, starting with this week's British Open at Muirfield.

The US tour announced this month it will adopt the ban on anchored strokes set by golf's rule makers the Royal & Ancient and USGA, despite indicating in February it may not follow suit.

Scott was one of nine players, including fellow major winners Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson, who sought legal advice prior to the tour's decision.

While they have accepted the ruling and Scott insists he will cope fine with the change, he remains frustrated at the US tour's stance, believing officials did "a complete 180" turn on the issue.

With a band of prominent and longtime anchored putter users in his ranks, US tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in February that his players "did not think that banning anchoring was in the best interests of golf or the PGA Tour" before determining last week the ban would not adversely affect the tour.

"They strongly felt the other way earlier in the year and they didn't follow through," Scott said.

"Essentially we just laid down and I think that's a pretty poor precedent to set for the PGA Tour with things moving forward.

"We just lie down like that and not make any waves.

"It doesn't make much sense to me and frankly it's disappointing but it is what it is and I don't think it'll affect me too much."
Scott still not satisfied with rationale for change

South African Tim Clark and Swede Carl Pettersson were among the other players opposed to the ban, which Scott describes as "unfair" and "unjust", and the Australian is yet to be satisfied by the reasoning for the new rule.

"They haven't answered sufficiently for my satisfaction but it's going to go the way it's going to go and there's nothing really you can do about it," Scott said.

"You can only hope that consistent rules are made in the future, otherwise this ruling will look incredibly silly."

Asked when he would adopt a new putter or stroke Scott said: "Probably, January 1, 2016."

In keeping with his approach of thorough preparations for major championships, Scott arrived at Muirfield almost a week ago and is building confidence as he looks to atone for his gut-wrenching loss at last year's tournament at Royal Lytham.

"I've pretty much got the course figured out in my head and now it's trying to adapt to some of the wind conditions, that's the hardest part I think," Scott said.

"It's pretty severe out there."

Fellow contender Jason Day has also hit the historic course several times, playing nine holes with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson on Sunday.

"I think it's going to be very tough to shoot any kind of score around here," Day said.