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JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

April 24, 2005

Adam Scott

BEIJING, CHINA

SCOTT CROCKETT: Adam, it's been a long day, it's been a long week for you, but you must be absolutely delighted to be the Johnnie Walker Classic champion. Tell us how you're feeling.

ADAM SCOTT: The last two days, I've played a lot of golf, and most of it I played pretty well. Today was tough, though, in the wind, and I did what I needed to do. I hung on and I'm proud of myself for that.

SCOTT CROCKETT: A little wobble in the middle, but you came through in the end. Must be pleasing for you, as well, to come out of that.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it wasn't looking so good there at one point, down to one shot and Retief playing very well. But 12th tee, I really struck a beautiful shot there and sealed it off with a birdie and followed on the next.

So, you know, I think looking back on it, the 12th hole set me up with a good chance to win the tournament. That was a 2 iron to three feet.

Q. Congratulations, and I have a question to ask you. Today we all know you didn't play so well; I want to know the reason. I think it is just not because of the wind.

ADAM SCOTT: You want to know the reason why I didn't play very well today? Well, I thought I played pretty good. It was very difficult.

SCOTT CROCKETT: He did win the tournament.

ADAM SCOTT: I didn't play as good in the first round; I shot a 63.

Q. Today maybe you played better than the first round than in the second today.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I was choking. (Laughter).

SCOTT CROCKETT: Rough crowd here, Adam.

Q. What sort of conversations were going on with you with Tony after 10, or any stages, were you feeling the nerves?

ADAM SCOTT: To be honest, I would say I was a little concerned after 10. I don't know what I was doing there. I was whiffing it around the hole, and I'd only have 50 yards to the front of the green and I didn't get it to the green. You know, my mind kind of left me there.

Tony kind of jawed me on the 11th tee and said, "Show them your best swing here," and I hit a pretty good shot. Hitting the green in two putts there was important, just to get a solid hole back underway.

Q. Well done again, Adam. You've now won a lot of events from start to finish. What is it you think about your makeup or your character that gives you the strength to lead from start to finish?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I like playing with a lead. I definitely do. I feel like when I get in the lead, I can go and run away with it, and it was looking that way here a little bit until I doubled 18 this morning.

You know, I just feel comfortable out in front. I've never won a golf tournament coming from behind yet. You know, I'm sure one day I'll lose one, but for the moment I feel very comfortable. Even though I got back to one shot today, I was still fine. You know, it's a good spot when I'm in front. The pressure is on him to catch up to me.

Q. Given the trisanctioned nature of the event, now you've won on the Australian Tour; how is that, and does this win make up for some sort of disappointment for the Nissan Open results?

ADAM SCOTT: Yes, definitely. Down to the first bit, yeah, I guess it means an Australasian win, which is fantastic. Obviously winning over here in Asia is big, is a nice accomplishment. I still haven't really won in Australia, though, which is obviously a major goal of mine, but I'm sure that day will come, like I've said the whole time.

This certainly makes up for the Nissan Open, not just the disappointment, but that it was only a 36 hole event. And nice to get a four rounder under my belt for this year, because this was the first time I played with any pressure on my down the stretch or on Sunday. I didn't do that at L.A.

Q. First thing, I want to say congratulations. All the girls love you so much. (Laughter)

ADAM SCOTT: Thank you.

Q. It's the first time you've played golf in China, so can you describe how do you feel about Pine Valley Golf Club, is it quite difficult for you or is it a big challenge for you?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, Pine Valley is a great golf course. It's worthy of having a tournament like the Johnnie Walker on it. You know, it played very difficult today in the wind, which I think was a good thing, because otherwise there would have been a lot of birdies, and it would have been up to me to keep making the putts to stay in front and I was happy to see the wind. With a little more rough, it would be a very difficult golf course and I'm sure we'll be back here sometime down the track because Pine Valley is a fantastic course.

Q. Given the state of the Australian Tour at the moment, how important is it for Australians like yourselves to be winning high profile events like this, and what contribution you think that can happen back home?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, Peter Lonard won last week at MCI, Hilton Head, and I won this week, and we have Australians winning every other week all over the world.

I can't say enough about the strength of Australian golf now at the top level. There's no way it's ever been this strong. It would be fantastic to somehow get sponsorship lifted back at home and put on some big events back there.

Q. Do you feel a sort of extra responsibility because of the state of the game back home, or the Tour at least?

ADAM SCOTT: You know, I think the players try and do as much as we can. You know, we work pretty closely with the Tour back there and we are pretty open with our viewpoints on it all.

Yeah, it was great growing up for me. It was a fantastic tour in Australia, and that's what I grew up watching and I aspired to play on that. It's a shame that it's dwindling a little bit, but it's never too late. I think the way golf is right now, we've got guys, 15 guys in the Top 100, maybe 12 guys. It's fantastic, I think you can put a good tournament together with that field.

Q. Do you think that Australian golf needs a hero like Greg Norman was, and can you be that guy, do you think?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I believe that's what's missing honestly. Greg Norman is playing a lot less now, and he's not No. 1 in the world like he was for so many years. I think if we did have a hero, that would be fantastic. It's like tennis at home at the moment has Lleyton Hewitt and tennis is huge.

Can I be Greg Norman? I honestly feel I can follow Greg's footsteps as far as his achievements. I feel that's kind of a goal of mine. I don't know, Greg has a charisma about him and an aura that he carries, and I don't know whether that comes with success or you've just got it, and I don't know if I've got that, only time can tell. My goal is to achieve Greg's feats, as well. So I'm on my way, but you never know.

Q. I have two questions. The first is which hole do you think is the easiest and which is the most difficult in this course and why? The second question, we know that you played only one round your first two days. What do you do with your time when you don't play?

ADAM SCOTT: The easiest hole is probably the eighth hole. It's a short par 5. That's why it's easy.

The hardest hole is maybe the sixth hole because the green is so severe. It's a tough par 3, very difficult with the wind, too.

One round in the first two days, I went to The Great Wall of China. I went with my caddie, actually, and a couple friends, Australian friends who are here. We went up to the top on the cable car and we walked back down, and I was tired after that.

Q. Cable car up?

ADAM SCOTT: Cable car up, and walked down.

Q. Congratulations, and I have two questions. Today I saw you play golf, it was on the green and you have a 3 putt and I don't know how you finish, but I saw that you were not satisfied with yourself and so can you please tell me the feeling of that? And the second question is that did you realize that you're going to be the champion last night? The clothes that you wear is very nice, and did you wear that because you know that you're going to be the champion today?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, no, I don't like 3 putting for a start. I'm never satisfied with that. That is wasting shots. That is why I'm looking angry or disappointed out there. We work so hard to get the ball on the green and then 3 putting is, you know, a waste. Unfortunately I had a couple of 3 putts today, and that's the worst time to do it, when it counts in the last round. So that's certainly disappointing.

But I think you were talking about the shirt, did you say? The shirt?

Q. My question is you're always very bright, like yesterday and the day before yesterday, and today you're going to wear a white hat and the most popular Burberry tee shirt. Did you realize you were going to be the champion today and you decide to wear these pair of fashion clothes?

ADAM SCOTT: No. Just this is what was clean after the end of the week so I didn't smell. (Laughter).

Q. Did you see the lady on the 17th hole, the lady with a blue jewelry?

ADAM SCOTT: The necklace? She was the talk of the golf course today.

Q. What do you think of that necklace compared with your trophy?

ADAM SCOTT: I'd rather have this trophy. The necklace won't look good on me. (Laughter).

Q. Wondering if you'd welcome more of these big ranking tournaments, maybe trisanctioned or bisanctioned tournaments in this part of the world, and would that attract more of the Top 10 golfers like yourself?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think this is a good week to prove that it would. I think four of the Top 10 are here this week, and I think a few of them are going on next week to Shanghai. With the way golf is growing in this country, I'm sure that you'll get Tiger's been here in the past, and I'm sure the top guys will come and play here at these high profile events that are could sanctioned. They will be coming back for sure. I'm expecting it, put it that way.

Q. First of all, you did great. Congratulations.

ADAM SCOTT: Thank you.

Q. Before the start of the tournament, in this news conference room, you said, "I can't sing, I can't dance." Now that you've won the tournament, would you consider singing and dancing for celebration?

ADAM SCOTT: Would I consider what?

Q. Singing and dancing for celebration?

ADAM SCOTT: For celebration, yeah. See me a little later on tonight, and I'll be singing and dancing plenty, don't worry about that.

Q. Looking forward to seeing you in Shanghai for the Asian Open.

ADAM SCOTT: Unfortunately not. Unfortunately not.

SCOTT CROCKETT: We'll let Adam go sing and dance very shortly. A few more questions here.

Q. I understand that you will have an outing tomorrow teaching kids to play golf.

ADAM SCOTT: Yes.

Q. Can you give any suggestions to the junior golfers in China?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I'm doing an outing with MasterCard tomorrow in Beijing here. We're just going to try and get some kids interested in golf, and I'm looking forward to doing that with about 25 kids, and I think the top two junior players from China.

You know, my tip for them is just to have fun. That's what's very important when you're young is to have a lot of fun and enjoy it.

SCOTT CROCKETT: I think ending on a point of the future of Chinese golf is very appropriate. Adam, congratulations, thanks for your help this week, and good luck the rest of the season.

ADAM SCOTT: Thank you. Appreciate it.

End of FastScripts.

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