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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 25, 2005

Adam Scott

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

JAMES CRAMER: We have Adam Scott, a victor over Sergio Garcia this afternoon. Adam, a long day out there but a fruitful one. Maybe you could get us started with a brief comment about your play before we go to questions.

ADAM SCOTT: My play was pretty good today all the way through. I didn't play as well as I did against Trevor yesterday, but still pretty solid and especially this afternoon against Sergio.

Q. Continuation of last week, you started playing well, obviously won in that freaky playoff. But this starts you rolling along?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, sure. I still feel like I'm in the same kind of rhythm I was working with last week. I made some nice putts here this week, which is great considering the way the greens have been the last couple of days. But I think when you're making a couple of putts in match play, that goes a long way. It really damages the psyche of the other guy.

Q. In effect the one hole playoff against Chad Campbell was match play?

ADAM SCOTT: Right. That was the preparation. (Laughter).

Q. What do you make of the way the brackets are kind of shaking out today with the four top seeds kind of falling by the wayside?

ADAM SCOTT: They have? The top four?

Q. Well, they're just as it looks

ADAM SCOTT: Well, that's good, yep (laughter). That's match play for you. You just never know. Honestly not much separates the top four guys in the world or the top four here from the 30th and 60th guy. There's a lot in the World Ranking points and all that, but on any given day, the guy that's the 60th player in the world can beat the 1st. Jay Haas beat Vijay this morning. That's how good everyone is out there.

Q. I guess these guys are nameless and faceless competitors all the way through to the end. Any pride at all when you have two guys regarded as the best 25 and under type players in the world matched up like that?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it was I think both of us really wanted to win that match today. I think it's a very friendly rivalry Sergio and I have. It's hardly even a rivalry, but we want to do the best we can and we know that we can play at world class level. We definitely push each other along.

I'm proud of the fact that I beat him today because I think he's a great match player. He's been fantastic in the Ryder Cups and he kind of plays his best under these kind of pressure situations. And I think I just got on top of him a little early today with a couple of putts, long putts, in a row, and it was hard for him to come back.

Q. You still take it one match at a time. But when you notice that so many I think all eight of them will be gone at the end of the day, does that change any of the dynamics going into the weekend?

ADAM SCOTT: Not really, because like I said, on a day anyone in this field can play their best and beat a guy who's not playing their best. So whoever I've got tomorrow, I'm sure it's going to be a pretty tough match. Obviously they're playing pretty well to get this far. I've just got to take it as it comes, and hopefully I can keep playing well.

Q. That said, your record in match play is pretty good. Anything specific about your game that seems to match up well with this format? You've done well the times you've played here.

ADAM SCOTT: You know, I don't really know what it is. I've done pretty well here in the past and one really good year. I think sometimes I find it easier playing just a guy standing next to me than playing some guy elsewhere on the golf course who's on a different hole; right there in front of you, you know what's going on, and you can adjust your game accordingly. But I've been playing pretty well coming into this event most years, so I think it's just playing well.

Q. When did you when you got to 6 this morning, when did you realize it had been moved up and how much how did you play the hole? Did you hit driver?

ADAM SCOTT: No, I didn't. I had no clue what line to hit it on or how far it was. I asked my caddie how far it was and he had no clue, either, so I said let's go down the normal way and I hit a 3 iron and a wedge. So that was an odd one. And it was the same again this afternoon. I had no clue again. So I jumped all over my caddie for not coming out on his lunch break (laughter).

Q. What did David do this morning?

ADAM SCOTT: He laid up, as well. I think we were both caught out there on that one.

Q. Would you like to see it stay there the rest of the week?

ADAM SCOTT: It's not a bad play, really. I think it's a tough, tough tee shot from back on that other tee. It's a really good hole from back there.

Q. Is Tony out there now?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. I don't know, I think it's a good hole from that back tee, but it's quite good for match play this way.

Q. Vijay drove the green, and a couple of other guys who were around it laid up. So it seemed to be a matter of choice. He came in with a pitching wedge.

ADAM SCOTT: Perfect.

Q. Stroke play, the guys say they don't want to look at the leaderboard. Is it different in match play, and if you looked at the board did you notice that Tiger was losing his match this morning? Did you happen to catch that?

ADAM SCOTT: Right, yeah, I saw that. And I haven't seen any of the match, obviously. But, yeah, we look at the leaderboard going around, something to do and keep up with who's doing what out there. That was a bit of a shock, I think, to everyone. But obviously Nick is playing great and has been for the last six or eight months. So it's just like I said before, anyone can come out and play his best or come out and beat Tiger Woods. That's how close everyone is out here.

Q. You said you didn't play as well as yesterday. What didn't you do well today and what did you do better yesterday?

ADAM SCOTT: I drove the ball perfect yesterday. And today it was there were some good drives and some average ones, as well. Yesterday I was just it was like automatic. But today was a little wayward, especially in the morning.

Q. Three Aussies among the eight?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah.

Q. Any thoughts on that? Is that a movement to get it back to Australia?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, that would be nice, Tim Finchem. I think there are 22 of us on Tour this year, and we've got some pretty good players and I think it's just shows the strength of Australian golf at the moment. And I think everyone back home should probably take notice a little bit more of that because the guys back home give us a pretty hard time about golf in Australia and the Tour. But I think we're probably the strongest golfing nation in the world.

Q. You mean they sort of berate the guys coming here and playing or they knock the whole Australian golf situation?

ADAM SCOTT: I think they just don't rate us that highly as far as they think some of these other stars or foreign stars, from my point of view, are more appealing to watch play golf. But we've got however many in the top 64 now. I think ten were here this week. That's pretty strong, really, for a small country. I think somehow they should try and promote that a little bit more back at home.

Q. Would this do it, or does it have to be a major?

ADAM SCOTT: I think this helps, three in the final eight here. Ten here for the start of the week.

Q. Are you talking that you don't have a Greg Norman type of attraction?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. We don't have Greg Norman at the moment, but golf's never been this strong down there. So I think it has ups and downs. I'm sure a Greg Norman figure will come along soon, and that will obviously help down there. But right now we're pretty strong.

Q. Can you ever fill those shoes or do you think just the way you are and who you are, without that Greg's had a flare that not many have.

ADAM SCOTT: Absolutely. I don't think I'm that kind of person at all. I'd love to emulate his career, win majors and however many events he won. But he had a certain flare about him. He carried that all around the world wherever he went, and that was just the way he played golf. And I think although there are similarities between me and Greg, I think there are a lot of differences, as well.

Q. What do you think the similarities are?

ADAM SCOTT: I think we both play really aggressive golf. We're not afraid to go after it, especially when we're playing well. Greg was a very aggressive player, and that won him a lot of tournaments and it cost him a lot of events, too. And I have pretty much modeled my game on him growing up, so I think that's where the similarities are.

Q. And the differences?

ADAM SCOTT: I think probably along the lines of the charisma. He carried a presence with him. And that may have developed over time, I don't know, because I wasn't around when he first came out. But I certainly don't do that at the moment, anyway. Maybe one day with some really great play that may develop, I don't know. But that's the difference.

Q. How many yachts do you have?

ADAM SCOTT: I'm struggling in that department (laughter).

Q. Before he came here, all the Great White Shark, the fact that he had supposedly wrestled the Shark, and also America was looking for somebody after Nicklaus. It just all fit together, so when he arrived everybody sort of knew who he was.

ADAM SCOTT: Okay, yeah. Yeah, but that's just him. He has that charisma about him. You're always searching for another Nicklaus and here comes the blond kid over here.

Q. It wasn't too long ago that no matter what you did or what you won there were constant comparisons to Tiger. Is it almost better now that Tiger has changed his swing, that you're not kind of under those comparisons?

ADAM SCOTT: I took it more as a compliment, and I certainly didn't pressure myself to achieve the same things Tiger did. I don't think that's realistic for anyone but Tiger. So I took it as a compliment and thought that maybe people think I've got a potential to be a threat to him, and that kind of kept me going.

Q. Is it easier to be looked at now, not having your swing constantly compared?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think everyone's got over that, although it didn't bother me. I think it kind of phased out and that's all right, by me anyhow.

End of FastScripts.

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