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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 27, 2004

Adam Scott

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome the 54-hole leader at THE PLAYERS Championship, Adam Scott. Great playing this week so far. And as the 54 hole leader you are the winner of this week's Crestor Charity Challenge. A donation will be made of $50,000 to the healthcare charity of your choice, in addition to the Children's Hospital Baptist Health will receive $50,000 from THE PLAYERS Championship and Crestor.

ADAM SCOTT: It's been a great week so far, right from Thursday, opening up earlier on Thursday with a good round. So this is how I've been preparing all week, now, for this position, and I've put myself in a good spot come tomorrow, hopefully another solid round of golf.

Q. Coming out of last week, and as many greens as you hit there, and as straight as you've been hitting, your confidence level right now must be as high as it's ever been.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, definitely. I'm hitting the ball great, and I just seemed to get into a rhythm early on, and from there you just let it go. And it's worked great for me so far this week. And today I just got in a great rhythm and played really solid and hit all the shots I wanted to.

Q. Talk about your mindset tomorrow coming out with a two-shot lead on a very difficult course with a bunch of accomplished people right there behind you.

ADAM SCOTT: I think I wouldn't be surprised when I'm teeing off I'm not leading anymore, opening up with a par-4, par-5 start. Eagle fixes a two-shot lead real quick. And especially with the guys who are right there behind, I can't let my guard down for one minute. It's going to be a real solid round of golf for me to win this.

Q. You said outside that the bogey at the first hole settled you down. Can you explain exactly what you mean by that and assess the various states of your game today?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think bogeying the first just got me refocused and ready to go for the rest of the round because you don't want to blow the round early on, and so you get focused back on the second tee and start all over again. I was quite happy to walk away with a 5 in the end because my putts were rolling past pretty quick. But all areas of my game were great today. I drove the ball nice. I hit a lot of greens. I didn't make all the putts, but the greens were -- they were tough to putt on today because you couldn't be aggressive. I got a good speed off of them on the back nine.

Q. What was your perception of this tournament and course before you ever came here, and has playing it a couple of times changed it?

ADAM SCOTT: No, not really, it's pretty much everything I expected. I think the biggest memory for me of this tournament was watching Greg Norman win in '94 when he shot the record score. I'd like to know how he shot that (laughter). But, you know, that's the biggest memory for me of this tournament. And I think the atmosphere is unbelievable around this place. It gets so rowdy around 16, 17, 18. It's actually pretty fun listening to it all.

Q. Expanding on that, how is this event perceived or judged in Australia? How is it reacted to? There's a lot of talk about it as a fifth major.

ADAM SCOTT: I think just from the press it gets here. Back home it's obviously a great field, but I don't think they realize just how big it is. I think you have to be over here and come to the tournament to realize what a big event it is. So maybe they don't realize the greatness of it, but they know it's a big tournament and that it's certainly one that great champions have won.

Q. You've been over here now bits and pieces three years. Are you about where you want to be developmentally or are you a little behind, a little ahead, or do you put yourself on a track like that?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, a little bit. I think I'm in pretty good shape. Maybe I thought I would have played a little better at some other points in my career. But so far right now it feels pretty good. I played really great last week, and this week I've been playing really solid. I like the way I've started this year, and hopefully I can just keep that going on through the rest of the year.

Q. A lot of young players, young guns as we call them, have struggled to win. You won last year in Boston, but you and Charlie Howell haven't collected the wins that say Tiger had. An unfair comparison? And two, why haven't we seen some of the younger players winning as often?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's a little unfair to compare to Tiger, I think. There aren't too many of him that come around. And obviously the comparisons are going to be made. I think

it's -- I don't take too much out of it. Obviously it's nice to be compared to a guy like that. But I'm not disappointed that I don't win 40 times in my 20's. But I think that's right, I think you'll see these young guys start to win a bit more frequently now. I think experience is just such a huge thing in this situation, when you're coming down the stretch of a tournament. Guys who are 35 and 40, you know, they have 20 years', 15 years' experience behind them, and that's something we don't have, and you just can't get that.

But I think from now on I think you'll see Charles and myself and Justin, a few other guys, winning tournaments.

Q. Adam, this time last year Butch was saying that it was good for you to mix and match between the European and U.S. Tours. What's your take on that? Is that still your feeling that you have to go -- that it's a good thing to go between them? And also, could you tell us something about what kind of tune-ups you do with Butch?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I do think it's a good thing for me, just the variable conditions over there, keep you sharp and keep you aware, and you never know when you're going to get an average lie or a bad weather day and you can think about all the times playing in Europe when it's blowing a gale and it's really cold out there, and you can go back and think about how you went about that and the experience of doing it. It keeps you sharp playing over there. So I think it's a good thing for me still.

And also, just Butch and I have just been doing a few tune-ups. Like last night on the range after the round, my swing got a little loose out there, and we were able to straighten it out, and by this morning it was good again. It's nice we've got my swing in position where it's manageable in a tournament. Even when you're losing it a bit, you can get it right back on track.

Q. Phil Mickelson was in here saying the guys in the locker room might have known how good you were before you knew how good you were. Do you feel your confidence growing in terms of being able to hang with those guys, the more veteran players?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, a little bit. I said it to someone yesterday out here that, you know, I think I'd feel more comfortable hanging with those guys if I were to win some more or win a big event or something like that. But I definitely see my game improving and getting closer to a level where they are. I can still see a difference, but I think that's partly due to experience and years of being out here. But it's getting closer to the level they are, yeah.

Q. Do you agree with that assessment from Phil that others may have recognized your talent level, the extent of it, before you did?

ADAM SCOTT: Maybe, yeah. I think a big part of it is being comfortable out here and being comfortable around Phil Mickelson or Tiger or Ernie, Davis Love, these guys. It's tough when you first come out here, and for the last ten years you've just watched these guys on TV and they're almost golfing heroes to you. I think a big part of it is getting comfortable, and that can take some time, a year or two, three years.

Q. Were you a Greg Norman fan growing up, and do you remember watching it at home in '94?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I'm a huge Greg Norman fan, but I didn't watch it when it actually happened. The pro at the club I was a junior at was Greg's old coach, and he tapes most everything Greg does. I remember watching it over and over in the back of his pro shop, because he loved showing us that video, obviously. And so I have watched that video a fair few times. I can probably tell you where he hit it almost on any hole.

Q. Tiger learned a lot from Butch. I'm wondering if there's anything Butch learned from Tiger about the swing or about winning that he's been able to share with you and his students.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think so, I think absolutely. Butch would be the first to tell you what he learned from Tiger, especially about the winning part. There's no one better in the game than Tiger on how to win a golf tournament. I'm sure I'd love it if he passed on a few words of wisdom to me.

Q. Anything you want to share with us?

ADAM SCOTT: I haven't seen him yet, but, you know, I'm sure he'll just tell me -- I remember the first time I led a tournament going into Sunday in Europe, he just told me to go out and play another round of golf. And as simple as that sounds, that's kind of the attitude I took, and I just played good enough to win. And it's a good thing to keep it simple. That's how I play golf. And I might take that out with me tomorrow.

Q. You've had a lot of success playing with the lead. The tournaments you've won around the world, you've led going into the last round. I wonder what you've learned about closing out a tournament, because a lot of times it takes people a long time to learn how to play from that position.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I've been a little fortunate that I've been able to close it out more often than not. And it's something that you need to be able to do, especially around this golf course, with the last few holes the way they are. And it will be interesting tomorrow. It's really just a test on yourself. For me, tomorrow is just a test of my own game. And if it's tight coming down the last few holes, then you really find out if all the hard work you've been doing is going to pay off. I feel like I'm doing the right stuff, so I'm pretty confident that I could get it done tomorrow.

Q. Tiger made a big deal about finishing bogey-bogey. How much of a psychological difference is that, that he finished 4-under as opposed to 6-under?

ADAM SCOTT: That's good for me, obviously (laughter). But he's probably going to be off an hour or so before me, I guess. And he can get some birdies in before that, and we've seen him charge up the leaderboard before, and I'm sure that's what he's thinking. So I wouldn't be surprised if he does. He's obviously playing nicely, having it going today. He's got a bit of confidence going. 4-under is better than 6-under.

Q. Do you laugh or grimace when you hear that Johnny Miller says something like you're doing Tiger Woods's swing better than Tiger Woods is swinging it right now?

ADAM SCOTT: That's laughable (laughter). But I try and swing like me, to be honest with you. I know people like to compare it to Tiger's swing, and I know why that is. But I don't try to swing like Tiger, I try to swing like me.

Q. Speaking of which, at your press conference in Bangkok you said that Butch had never seen you swing worse than at the Sony, correct?

ADAM SCOTT: Yes.

Q. Without getting too technical, can you explain the steps you've gotten from there to here in two months?

ADAM SCOTT: It was from my setup. I was closed with with my shoulders, open with my hips, and then it would make me take the club out and in from the ball, and it was a bit of battle from there to get it back on track. So the first thing we did was square me up at set up. I was getting the hips and the knees, the shoulders all lined up, and I could get the club face square at address. And from there it's a lot easier to swing the club.

Q. I think it was here last year somebody was asking you about whether or not you were too nice out there. Have you gotten any meaner in the ensuing year?

ADAM SCOTT: I don't know, you tell me. I mean, yeah, I think it's an inner thing. You've got to be mean inside. Some of my experiences over the last year have showed me how these big guys really have to have burning fire inside of them just to squash everybody else out there, and I think you have to have that or they'll do it to you. I'll be ready to go tomorrow. I'll be Mr. Tough Guy tomorrow (laughter).

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your score card. Started off the day with a bogey.

ADAM SCOTT: That was driver in the rough and wedge over the green, chipped on and two putts.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Birdie on 6.

ADAM SCOTT: 3-iron, wedge, 15 feet.

10, 3-wood, 9-iron, 30 foot putt.

11, driver, 5-iron, two putts, 40 feet.

12, 3-wood, lob wedge, four feet.

Q. How much coincidence is it that you swing like him and how much of it is by design?

ADAM SCOTT: I think it's more coincidence than by design. When I was about 15 or 16 Tiger turned pro, I think, and everyone tried to swing like him in school. So, yeah, I did try to swing like him then, but since then my swing's evolved into Adam Scott's swing and I was lucky to get to work with Butch. And he picked up the similarities, so I got to work on the same stuff that Butch did with Tiger.

End of FastScripts.

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