Jason Day had a rare birdie-eagle start to his final round at the Masters (How/Getty Images)

By Bill Cooney, PGATOUR.COM

The first major championship of the season produced plenty of thrills and spills. Adam Scott is the Masters champion after he knocked off Angel Cabrera on the second playoff hole. But it was his play on the final 13 holes in regulation at Augusta National that lifted him to victory. For more on Scott's win and this week's RBC Heritage, let's go Inside the Numbers ...

10 under  Scott’s score on Nos. 6 through 18 for the week at the Masters. … Point to plenty of things for Scott’s major breakthrough -- clutch putting and ball-striking, to name a few -- but this stat is about as good as it gets. Scott played this stretch brilliantly, carding 11 birdies and just one bogey for the week. Since 1990, no other golfer has played the final 13 holes in each round of the Masters with one or fewer bogeys through four rounds, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

10th  According to Elias, Jason Day became the 10th player since 1990 to open any round at the Masters birdie-eagle. … Day opened his final round 3-3 before bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 ultimately ruined his chances of joining a playoff with Scott and Angel Cabrera. Three other players opened 3 under in the final round: Mark O'Meara (2001), Mark Calcavecchia (2007) and Louis Oosthuizen (2012).

13  Shot differential between Ryan Moore’s third and fourth round at the Masters. … Moore posted an 81 on Saturday but rebounded with a 4-under 68 to finish T38. According to Elias, in the last 10 years at the Masters, only two other players made at 13-shot improvement from one round to the next: Charles Coody and Mark Hensby in 2006.

No. 18  The scenic,  472-yard 18th hole at Harbour Town, home to this week’s RBC Heritage, ranked as the 18th most-difficult closing hole on the PGA TOUR last season. … With light winds last year, the hole played quite easy compared to past seasons at .179 strokes over par. The hole has averaged over par for the tournament every year since 1997.

76.67 percent  Scrambling percentage at the Masters for Lee Westwood, who ranked first in that category, saving 23 of 30 shots. … The move to South Florida continues to pay off for the Englishman. Quite frankly, his short game turnaround in 2013 is remarkable. Last season, Westwood ranked 191st in scrambling at 48.30 percent. This season, he ranks seventh on TOUR at 67.24 percent. Still, Westwood has just three top 10s in eight events. The culprit? ...

T109  Rank in 2013 for Westwood in greens in regulation at 65.48 percent. … Yes, this is a major surprise and likely the reason that Westwood hasn’t enjoyed a monster season thus far. Last year, Westwood was third in greens at 69.75 percent and he’s known as one of the better ball-strikers on TOUR. Westwood has also struggled with his putter, ranking 127th in strokes gained-putting, an area that has always been his nemesis.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS ARCHIVE

Week 2: Sony Open/Humana Challenge

Week 3: Humana Challenge/Farmers Insurance Open

Week 4: Farmers Insurance Open/WM Phoenix Open

Week 5: WM Phoenix Open/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Week 6: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am/Northern Trust Open

Week 7: Northern Trust Open/WGC-Accenture Match Play

Week 8: WGC-Accenture Match Play/The Honda Classic

Week 9: The Honda Classic/WGC-Cadillac Championship

Week 10: WGC-Cadillac/Tampa Bay Championship

Week 11: Tampa Bay Championship/Arnold Palmer Invitational

Week 12: Shell Houston Open

Week 13: Valero Texas Open

Week 14: The Masters

Lee Westwood took advantage of the par-5s and made a move on Saturday. (Cannon/Getty Images)

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

HUMBLE Texas – Lee Westwood was smiling after his third-round 67 and the moment was duly noted by the press.

“Golfers are never satisfied, are we?’’ he said with a grin. “We roll a few in and think we can roll a few more in. Just a vicious circle. I like the way I putted it today and the greens were a little bit slower, that's what I found tricky about it. Left a lot of putts short.’’

Made a few too, which put him into position to contend in Sunday’s final round. He walked off the course just two shots behind the leaders and is one of about a dozen players with a good chance to win the Shell Houston Open.

The 67 left him at 9-under, two back of the leaders, going into the final round, but it could have been one better if he hadn’t bogeyed 18.

“I played much more solid today,’’ said Westwood, who shot even-par Friday. “I played the par 5s in 3-under par. The first day I was 1-over. You can't afford to do that.

“Today, it was obviously a lot better. I'll shoot lower scores if I start playing the par 5s better ... I mean, built up a little bit more confidence and I hit the ball really nice today. It's longer, so I'm sure I'll start to swing at it better and made a few putts as well.’’

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

HUMBLE, Texas -- Two balls in the water at the eighth hole. Another bogey on the front.

And, before you ask, neither one had anything to do with the wind that was snapping around every corner at Redstone Thursday morning.

 It was all Lee Westwood.

“Operator error? No. It was the organ grinder,’’ he said grinning.

What else could he do?

What should have been at worst a 66 turned into an opening 4-under 68, so it was hard to complain too much. Unless you count the grumbling about his lousy par-5 play this year.

“I must have the worst par 5s of anyone this year,’’ said Westwood, who tied for eighth at the 2010 Shell Houston Open. “It was like dropping four shots really. A 68 is as high has I could have shot.’’

A run of three birdies at 12, 13 and 14 righted things just a bit, but Westwood was still a bit miffed. He’s been hard at work on his short game all year and these little blips keep popping up.

“I don’t know whether I’m trying to be too aggressive or what," he said. "I suppose it goes in spells like that. It’s not like they were two really bad shots on the par 5s, really."

Just bad enough that his short game had to save the day for bogey.

“My short game and pitching are really good, so there’s no reason why the par-5 scoring shouldn’t sharpen up,’’ he said.

Hopefully, he said, in time for the Masters. Westwood plans to take next week off, then head to Augusta, play an 18-hole practice round Monday, then nine holes each the next two days to ease into the year’s first major.

And take advantage of his putter the way he did in the opening round.

He made four putts of 10 feet or longer -- and a tough chip at 17, which settled in just 7 feet away, which bodes well for this week, not just the Masters.

Justin Rose tees off on the difficult 18th hole in last season's final round at TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral.
(Cannon/Getty Images)

By Bill Cooney, PGATOUR.COM

First-time PGA TOUR winner Michael Thompson could be considered a surprise champion at The Honda Classic. But his statistics -- mainly the improvement he made at PGA National compared to 2012 -- are even more shocking.

Thompson improved in ranking more than 100 spots in two critical statistics when comparing 2012 to The Honda Classic. We'll take a look at that and dive into the teeth of TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral -- site of this week's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship -- by going inside the numbers. 

No. 10  The 508-yard 10th hole at PGA National played as the most difficult of the week at The Honda Classic. The average score on the 10th was 4.403, which is the most difficult hole on the PGA TOUR thus far in 2013. … An average of 4.403 would put the hole in the top 10 most-difficult on TOUR in most seasons. The 10th yielded just 15 birdies all week, three of which came on Sunday when it played the most difficult with a 4.680 average. Surprisingly, the highest single-round average came at the par-4 11th during Round 3 at 4.800.

12th  The secret to success for Justin Rose in winning last year’s WGC-Cadillac Championship? Do everything well. Rose ranked 12th in all-around at the event. … Rose ranked in the top 30 in arguably the six most important statistics on TOUR at the Cadillac. He was 28th in driving distance, T18 in driving accuracy, T17 in greens in regulation, 6th in scrambling, 29th in strokes gained-putting and T5 in proximity to the hole. That’s pretty solid.

No. 18  The 467-yard par-4 hole at TPC Blue Monster ranked as the second-most difficult hole on the PGA TOUR last season at 4.539. Only No. 6 at The Olympic Club ranked tougher (4.544), which was during the U.S. Open. … The 18th ranked 33rd in 2011 and 101st in 2010. The signature hole at Trump Doral features a large water hazard down the left-hand side and plenty of tree trouble and bunkers on the right. The wind plays a huge factor as well – par feels a lot like birdie against the wind.

48 of 72  Michael Thompson hit 48 of 72 greens in regulation in winning The Honda Classic, ranking T5 in the category on the week. … That doesn’t even sound very impressive. But consider GIR leader Peter Hanson hit 51 greens at difficult PGA National. Also consider how much of an improvement compared to the field it was for Thompson. For the 2012 season, he ranked 144th in GIR. He was also spot-on with this driving accuracy, ranking T9 at PGA National at 71.43 percent compared to 126th (59.43 percent) at year-end of 2012.

66.22 percent  Scrambling rate through four events for Lee Westwood. That ranks 21st on TOUR. … Why is this important? Well, consider Westwood finished 2012 ranked 191st (48.3 percent) in scrambling – one of the weaker aspects of his golf game. One of the reasons Westwood moved his family from England to South Florida in the offseason was to get his short game in better shape. So far, it appears to have helped.

68th  Tiger Woods’ all-around rank at The Honda Classic, where he finished T37. … There are plenty of positives when breaking down Woods’ stats from PGA National. He was T11 in greens in regulation, T3 in eagles per hole, T10 in driving distance and T3 in proximity to the hole. But Woods ranked T46 in birdie average – which is likely a result of his strokes gained-putting rank of 38th at .270, meaning he picked up only about one shot on the field average for the week via putting. Woods was also T47 in scrambling, making par or better from off the green only 13 of 25 times.

309.6  Driving distance for PGA TOUR leader Nicolas Colsaerts. … The Belgian bomber is certainly living up to his namesake. It will be interesting to see if Colsaerts can stay on top throughout the season. He had an average of 315.2 in a limited schedule in 2012. Furthermore, it will be equally as interesting to see where he ends up. It's doubtful he will challenge Hank Kuehne's all-time high average of 321.4 set in 2003. But considering the uneven weather so far on TOUR, there’s no telling what Colsaerts can do in the summer heat.

1,282  FedExCup points for leader Brandt Snedeker. … Snedeker, who is sitting out Cadillac due to a rib injury, is way ahead of the 2012 pace through this point. Last season, Kyle Stanley led the TOUR with 935 points.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS ARCHIVE

Week 2: Sony Open/Humana Challenge

Week 3: Humana Challenge/Farmers Insurance Open

Week 4: Farmers Insurance Open/WM Phoenix Open

Week 5: WM Phoenix Open/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Week 6: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am/Northern Trust Open

Week 7: Northern Trust Open/WGC-Accenture Match Play

Week 8: WGC-Accenture Match Play/The Honda Classic

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- A year ago, a final-round 63 was too little, too late for Lee Westwood, who wound up fourth at The Honda Classic.

He hopes not to be in that position this time around.

Westwood shot a 68 Friday, putting him at 6 under at this year's event and in contention with two rounds to go. Two of the last three years, Westwood has finished in the top 10 here.

"I missed a good chance at 16 and didn't birdie the last," Westwood said of two missed opportunities late in his round Friday "That could really have put some pressure on."

Still, there should be less pressure on Westwood heading into the weekend.

"I always played this golf course pretty well," he said. "I'm pleased with the way I played the first couple of days and should be in decent position."

A short commute can only help, too.

Westwood moved just down the street from PGA National, buying a house next to Charl Schwartzel at Old Palm.

"It's nice to not have to pack a suitcase," Westwood said. "It's nice to go home and have dinner with the kids and sleep in your own bed."

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- When Lee Westwood pitched the idea of moving to the U.S. to his family, he wasn't met with much resistance.

"It wasn't a tough sell," said Westwood, who settled just down the road at Old Palm in the offseason. "Do you want to go and live by the sea and the sun by a beach? It was a pretty quick take‑up."

Now Westwood is hoping the decision will pay off inside the ropes.

Twice in the last three years, Westwood has finished in the top 10 at The Honda Classic. The 39-year-old has 22 career wins on the European Tour but just two on the PGA TOUR -- and zero majors.

"We were driving down the road, me and (agent) Chubby Chandler, and I said, 'I could live here for sure,'" said Westwood, who finished fourth here a year ago after a final-round 63. "I expect to feel better this year because of less travel and less going through time zones. The older you get, the harder it is to sort of get your head around that."

Westwood also became frustrated with the winters in England, where the weather limited his practice.

"Not being able to work as hard as I would like, and coming out at the start of the year, really feeling too rusty," continued Westwood, who now counts ISM stablemates Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen among his neighbors. "I wanted to come and live in the sunshine"

At Old Palm, Westwood & Co. has a top-notch practice facility that includes a 33-acre double-ended range, four practice holes, a large short-game area, a TrackMan hitting bay and a golf studio.

Not that he doesn't miss England.

"Cricket, rugby, football," he said.

Just not the weather.

"I probably get more football on TV here than we do back in England," Westwood said. "They can't show it at 3 o'clock on a Saturday in England because they are trying to get people to go to the games, but here it's on at 10 o'clock in the morning which seems like a much more reasonable time to watch football.

"I must watch a fair bit because my wife moans at me about it. 'Not football on again' is often heard in my house."

At least now he can leave and go practice.

"I can practice every aspect of my game," Westwood said. "And I get to do it in shorts, whereas it would have been waterproofs this time of year in England."

The winner of The Honda Classic will appear in the media center at PGA National. Watch the stream above.

MARANA, Ariz. -- Rafael Cabrera Bello is ranked 60th in the world, 52 spots below where Lee Westwood ranks. But rankings made no difference on Thursday, as the Spaniard knocked off Westwood in 19 holes in one of the biggest upsets in the first round.

Cabrera Bello, a 15th seed, will now play Martin Kaymer in the second round of the Player bracket.

Cabrera Bello was making just his second appearance in this event, having lost in the first round last year to Jason Day. But he overcame a sluggish start to beat the second-seeded Westwood, who had reached the semifinals here last year.

"Obviously the odds were in his favor," Cabrera Bello said, "but in match play, anything cann happen. I just tried my best and I was fortunate enough to win."

Westwood was 2 up through five holes, with Cabrera Bello bogeying three of those holes. But he steadied himself to play bogey-free golf the rest of the match.

He was still 3 down at the turn but he won the 10th hole with a birdie, then squared the match with pars at the 13th and 14th holes.

Westwood regained the lead with a birdie at the 15th but gave it back when he bogeyed the 18th, missing a 7-foot putt that would have clinched the win.

Cabrera Bello then won the match on the first extra hole when he rolled in a birdie putt from 10-1/2 feet.