Adam Scott's 2013 will still go down as one of the best despite final-hole collapse

THE temptation was to view Adam Scott's final moments as failure.

Or for to see the eye-rubbing scenes on the 18th green at Royal Sydney on Sunday and neatly tie-up the comparisons with Greg Norman. Cough, cough.

Both were wrong, though, and more than a little unfair to Scott.

Regardless of Sunday's events at Rose Bay, the 2013 season of Adam Scott will still go down as one of the best in Australian golfing history.

Scott couldn't become the second man to win Australia's triple-crown but the fact it's still a one-man club indicates the toughness of the task.

To finish with two victories and a second in the Australian summer is no small feat; let alone the fact Scott wedged a fourth week of golf in between with a third place (and a teams victory) at the Golf World Cup.

A summer in which he pocketed $1.3 million in prizemoney is hardly failure, nor one where he shot 77 birdies, 11 sub-70 rounds and a combined total of 52-under par in four tournaments.

His overall statistics for the 2013 season are no less impressive. Over $6 million in prize money, four season victories and 36 of 76 rounds under 70. Not a single cut was missed all year.

But the lasting measure of Scott's place among the luminaries in Australian golf, of course, will forever be linked to that historic day in April.

By slipping into Australia's first ever Green Jacket, Scott shook a monkey of the country's back and single-handedly lifted the often meandering profile of the game in his homeland.

Importantly, Scott always understood his win was more than just an individual honour. He understood the value to a country who had suffered years of heartbreak, and took us for the ride at Augusta with the spine-tingling moment of year - that unforgettable "C'mon Aussie".

Scott understood, too, his obligation to bring the celebration home this summer.

So for a month, Scott not only spread the Green Jacket goodness, he played sublime golf and entertained fans to boot. Over one hundred thousand fans saw him do in the flesh, and many multiples of that on the tube. He signed autographs until his wrist ached and gave interview after interview after interview.

Three titles would have been great. But one slip on one hole on one afternoon was never going to tarnish the incredible 2013 of Adam Scott.