Newton on Scott: Better than Norman ... and Tiger?

• By Ryan Lavner
• Dec 18, 2012 8:58 AM ET

Cash in while you can – that was Australian golf legend Jack Newton’s advice to Adam Scott on the heels of the governing bodies’ decision to ban the anchored putter in 2016.

“I’d be just carving up whatever I could,” Newton said Tuesday, via an unbylined report by the AAP. “I used to criticize (Scott's) putting and he didn’t like that … he was in denial about putting. He’s gone for the long one and he’s putting super.”

Though the proposed rule won’t be enacted until 2016, the PGA Tour could go a different route and make anchoring illegal even earlier, perhaps as soon as this fall, before the start of the 2013-14 wraparound season.

Already Scott has begun practicing with a different putter in the wake of the ruling. At this month’s Australian Open, he was spotted during a practice round with a specially designed 40-inch putter but did not use the club during competition. At the time, he said, “Until I invent a better way to putt for myself, I’ll stick to the broomstick.”

Newton, 62, who was one of Australia’s most successful golfers in the 1970s and ’80s, apparently holds Scott’s game in high regard.

“Adam Scott is a better player than Greg (Norman), quite frankly,” Newton said, according to the report. “I won’t say he’s got the bottle that Norman had, but he’s a damn good player and I think he’s just getting to the stage now where he’s pretty close to winning one (a major) and he probably should have won the British Open. … I don’t think he’s far away.”

Fair enough. But Newton didn’t stop there, either.

“He’s better than Tiger – he’s got the best swing in the game, no doubt at it,” Newton said.