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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 17, 2016

Adam Scott

Orlando, Florida

Q. Adam, congratulations. Another nice start, 5-under 67. Your thoughts on how you played today.
ADAM SCOTT: It's a good score today. We've got beautiful conditions out there. The course is perfect. So, I mean I need to take advantage of the morning tee time, good conditions and I didn't play my best golf tee to green but I chipped and putted really well today.

That's a nice feeling when you shoot as low as you possibly can.

Q. I counted up the numbers, you made three, five and a half footers, a 10-footer and 12-footer for par.
ADAM SCOTT: There was some scrambling going on. I wasn't really sharp today but I got away with it, probably because the wind was down and stuff like that. Couldn't get into too much trouble.

Managed myself well. Made some good putts to keep whatever momentum I had going and it added up to a good score.

Q. Before your press conference yesterday, you talked about to go out and play in the Pro-Am. Now that you've played the opening round, tell us, how good is it?
ADAM SCOTT: It's absolutely pure. So nice to see they put in so much hard work the last 12 months. The greens are absolutely great. I'd be disappointed if I didn't make those putts you talked about.

Q. Congratulations on the round, good luck tomorrow.
ADAM SCOTT: Thank you.

Q. Nice playing today.
ADAM SCOTT: I didn't hit it great but I scrambled great getting up and down.

Q. I'm here with Adam, 67 today but you and I spoke off camera, it was a little bit of a struggle out there. Talk us through there.
ADAM SCOTT: I didn't hit it great today. A couple off line off the tee and a couple off line into the greens and my chipping and putting were there, though, fortunately because it was a perfect morning for scoring out there. The greens were pure. I had to make the cut. It was par most of the time. It added up to a good start.

Q. Adam, you've shown so much resiliency throughout your career even late with the quad and two double bogies.
Have you specifically worked on something?

ADAM SCOTT: I think some of it is just my natural temperament. I don't get too flustered. I certainly don't get as flustered as I've gone on and played more tournament golf.

You know what this game is like. Also, I've had some experience of being in the hunt in these big events and understanding how difficult a golf course is some days and it's difficult for everyone. You can make a mistake like that but if you're playing well you got to remind yourself you are and get back out and hit a good shot just like that. I think that was kind of the key to the last two weeks me bouncing back.

Q. Kind of a quiet opening 9. You have to be very satisfied with the anchor ban. You had the struggles on the greens last year.
You commented you wanted to be the best putter by April. Certainly things are going in the right direction.

ADAM SCOTT: I got to be ambitious and have high expectations of yourself. I probably won't be but I'm heading in that right direction at least. I'm going to have a lofty goal to achieve what I want in this game. I'm going to have to be a great putter to win at tournaments.

Q. 67 today, get some rest in this heat and good luck tomorrow.
ADAM SCOTT: Thank you.

Q. Adam, when you're on a roll like this, does it help you get through a day that you weren't exactly sure you have it?
ADAM SCOTT: I think so. Confidence and calmness. I hit so many good shots the last few weeks and kind of continuously do that. Didn't hit terribly bad shots today. My short game was there. That's the kind of days you're almost most satisfied with are days like today when you shoot your lowest.

Q. What does it say about the state of your game, you weren't the sharpest and still shoot 5-under?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, on one day that's okay but I'm going to have to sharpen up, I think, to contend this week. The course is so pure, conditions are really good.

Someone who is hitting it good is going to make a lot of putts because the greens are rolling pure. If you can get it inside 20 feet you're feeling like you're going to make everything.

So, it would be good if the swing just falls back in that great rhythm it's been in tomorrow. I don't think it's far away at all. Hopefully that takes a lot of stress off my short game.

Q. Still a little bit of confidence coming in today knowing you're still on top, at least close enough to the top of the leaderboard.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. It's a great start to this tournament. This course was playing fairly favorable to us this morning but it's no pushover at all. If you start getting out of position it's going to be very difficult here over the week with the firm greens and that's the kind of stuff I'm very happy with.

Q. Adam, do you allow yourself to think of the last two wins while you're playing this week or try to erase that from your mind?
ADAM SCOTT: No. I think I've kind of moved on from that now. I must say at Doral I was pretty pleased to win and Honda I had a flew flashbacks while I was there because it had been a long time since I won on the PGA TOUR but I've had a whole week off to kind of digest what's happened and back to make sure I came here just as hungry to win again and keep the form going and try and let this confidence snowball going into Augusta.

Q. How satisfying is it to have the putter, which was a liability for you a little bit last year, really be a thing that saved you for today's round?
ADAM SCOTT: It's always good to rely on your putter. Everyone has ups and downs. At the moment I'm putting with confidence. I wish that would last forever but, you know, the reality is it won't.

There are going to be moments where I just am out of rhythm with it or whatever and while you're hot you got to run with it. I'm trying to do that.

Q. Marc Leishman is tied with you. He was saying he didn't even know a year ago at this time if he would be playing golf again.
Can you speak to just the year he's been through in coming out of the other side, do you see anything different in him and his game?

ADAM SCOTT: I think you know, I can't speak highly enough of Marc. You know, he's a bit younger than me. We didn't really grow up together but we've been out on Tour together. When he made the putt, show what kind of character he is. He's the same character off the golf course.

He's dealt with a lot in the last 12 months. I'm not in position to speak about that. Maybe it just gave him some nice perspective on everything and he's playing great golf and coming back. He won a big event in South Africa the back end of last year and he's a hell of a player.

You wouldn't wish anything on anyone but it's nice to see a guy like that take something good away from it, and, in particular, for his family.

Q. He referenced the 2013 that day at Augusta. He said starting at Hole 17 he was actually making an effort to talk to you about any or non-golf related just to try to take the stress off of him.
Were you aware of what he was doing?

ADAM SCOTT: Not really but it was good having a chat with him the last couple of holes because it was about that time, it was the first time that winning popped into my mind that day and the fact we had been kind of talking most of the day and nothing changed but it's really great and, you know, he's like I said, he's a great player. We didn't grow up together but spent some time out here playing.

Q. Adam, on a day like this, just curious, what's sort of shots like you had on 16 and 18 or some of the up and downs you had, I'm going to say for par and couple of testy ones?
ADAM SCOTT: Sure. It was a mixed bag today. All of the good stuff is good to see whether it's a good chip or shot or putt. Good stuff is what you want to see and, you know, no matter what position you hit it in, the next one you're just trying to hit another good one.

It's nice that I feel my short game is up to that level when it needed to be today to save me a little bit and keep a good score possible and it's always nice to know okay, the swing hasn't gone completely. I still hit a few good shots out there. Hopefully that rhythm comes tomorrow when I can put it all together and keep going low.

Q. This wasn't your A game today. What sort of letter grade would you give it?
ADAM SCOTT: It's pretty good. I mean it's up there near an A. I give myself an A for today's performance. I didn't ball strike it like an A but I played like an A.

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