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TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BY COCA-COLA

September 21, 2016

Adam Scott

Atlanta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Adam Scott into the media center at the TOUR Championship. Thanks for joining us, Adam. You're coming in here at number 3 in the FedExCup standings. You're coming off a really good year. A couple of wins early in the year. Then top fives in each of the three playoff events already. Just speak to coming to the TOUR Championship with a chance to win, being in the top five.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's really a good feeling to be back at the TOUR Championship. Coming in with some nice form the last three weeks. It will be nice to finish off with a win here this week. For many reasons, it's been a really great year for me playing-wise, starting out in the spring really well and taking advantage of that good play. I feel like I haven't quite done that the rest of the year since the spring.

Not only to win, to win the FedExCup and the TOUR Championship, but just that personal kind of satisfaction of finishing off the year the best I possibly can and going into next year even more optimistic.

THE MODERATOR: Having said that, you have won here in 2006, before the FedExCup began. What does it take at this golf course? What does it take to win here?

ADAM SCOTT: I think this week with the weather looking really good, the course is going to stay dry, the rough is long, longer than I remember it. The last few times I've been here, I think driving the golf ball well is going to be a big advantage this week, obviously. It's probably the case. We say this most weeks. The rough is significant enough here where it's going to be very hard to control it coming out of the rough onto the greens. I'd only imagine without rain that's going to get tougher and tougher.

For me, if I have a good driving week here, I think I set myself up with a chance to be in the mix.

Q. Adam, just curious, when you left Barclays last year, early, early departure from the playoffs, what was the biggest commitment you made to yourself to get back? What have you followed through on to get back to the TOUR Championship?
ADAM SCOTT: I think a couple of things. I had something going on with my finger around that time last year. Getting knocked out of the playoffs let it heal, which was a nice thing, and I was able to play my next event, which was five weeks later at the Presidents Cup, fully healthy. So there were no reasons for me not to be hitting the ball well because I started wavering at that point last year.

That was also the point when I switched out of the anchored stroke into a non-anchored stroke. Really went to it with a lot of optimism and enthusiasm and embraced the challenge of changing back to a different style of putting. Putted fairly well straight away and then very well at the start of this year and not very well since. Should think about going through that process -- that kind of attitude -- take that attitude again towards the putting.

Q. Talk about flipping the holes here at East Lake and wonder what your thoughts are on that, the impact to the closing holes in terms of excitement to the tournament and the potential. What do you think?
ADAM SCOTT: I definitely think it's going to give some more excitement even just -- we can just start with the new 18th hole. It's firm out there. Guys are going to be able to reach the green in two shots. There are going to be some eagles. There are going to be some birdies. That provides a lot more excitement and possibilities probably than the par 3, a long par 3.

There's also the potential to make -- hit it in the rough and get it in the wrong spot and make a bogey on the par 5 as well. So you know you're never really out of it with that par 5 last hole to play. You can be a couple shots back and still feel like you're in it whereas you're kind of wishing on the par 3 if you had two shots back.

Q. Adam, two questions for you. Number one, playing very well this year. What does that mean for you confidence-wise coming into the tournament? And number two, I think the last time you won here was 2006. You were one of the young guns. So how does it feel now to be one of the seasoned veterans?
ADAM SCOTT: That's pretty nice, I guess, "seasoned veteran." My name's been very consistent this year, and that's felt good. So I feel like I come into every tournament knowing that I have a chance to compete. The putter's been up and down, and that affects my result the most, I think, ultimately.

I could get into my scrambling a little bit as well, but I don't know whether that's as much chipping or putting that's affecting that. But generally, I'm playing well, and the confidence is there. I play consistently well week after week. So I feel quite calm and confident that I'm going to play well this week.

I just want to find my feel on the greens early and get this ball rolling like I did earlier in this year on similar kind of grass greens in Florida. So hopefully, getting back onto this kind of Bermuda style grass will bring those memories of making a lot of putts back.

And being an old guy or a seasoned veteran, I'm quite comfortable with that position, probably far more comfortable than I was ten years ago being called a young gun. Although to win here, it's amazing to think it was ten years ago, but it's a huge honor to win the TOUR Championship. This is the best 30 guys out there on the PGA Tour this season. Being here is a good achievement, but winning this tournament on such a great course is something that I hold in high regard in my career. It's right up there in that kind of THE PLAYERS category.

Q. This seems to come up every year at this tournament. There is kind of an oddity in the guys that have a chance to win the FedExCup, and again this year we've got someone who could win the FedExCup without winning a tournament all year. That would be Paul Casey. Obviously, a lot of things have to happen, but if he could finish second, win the whole thing, doesn't win a tournament all year. If something like that happens, is that bad? Or is that a he's just fortunate and taking advantage of his circumstance?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, it is a season-long points race. So nothing says in the rule book you have to win a tournament to do that. I guess they're trying to get consistency rewarded in the FedExCup. It's just happened that the standard of golf has generally been so high that the guys who do play the best have been winning.

But if we play 100 FedExCups, there will be one for sure where someone wins and never wins a tournament. It's just going to happen. Because it's possible, it will eventually, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Q. Adam, going back to 2006, how much do you feel like the course has changed since then to where maybe what you can draw upon from ten years ago is maybe less negligible than other tournaments you've gone to where you've won before? Has it changed that much?
ADAM SCOTT: It has. Just the grass on the greens is a huge difference. Not much in the way of the hole design -- I mean, there are a few changes since I was here last actually, and I don't know if that was this year or last year, with some bunkering and a couple of new greens. It looks like the 17th fairways, they've done some work on that.

But not much has changed, and that's why it's a great course. It plays a bit differently because of the surface of the green. The ball reacts differently. Chipping is a bit different. You've got to be very careful not to short-side yourself above the hole now with this grass whereas I think with the bent greens they were much more receptive to the chip shots.

These classic golf courses shouldn't be fiddled with too much. It's a great track. We don't need to do anything much to it. It's all there in front of you. It's a tough test of golf this week. The fairways are far more narrow than we're used to having. So it will play tough.

Q. I don't know if you recall ten years ago how different maybe the vibe was. Obviously, you're in contention and the intensity of trying to win, but there wasn't $10 million at stake. There hadn't been two or three playoff events preceding it. It's kind of the end of a long year. Do you recall this feeling different to that TOUR Championship that you're contending in at the time? Or is it still a tournament's a tournament when you get out there?
ADAM SCOTT: It may have had a different feel. There wasn't the three playoff events leading into it, and there wasn't quite a buildup to it.

But in fairness to the TOUR Championship, it stood out on its own as one of the premier tournaments on the PGA Tour, like I said, with the THE PLAYERS and the TOUR Championship. And making that TOUR Championship, which was the last event of the year, in November, I think it was. That's 30 guys who have played their best, straight off the money list back then, all year. To get into that was an achievement, and I think it still had the same feel of winning a prestigious title. You know, just something more than just winning a golf tournament.

I think, because it had the 30 best players, even though it was a small field, it was justified as a strong tournament because this is the best 30 here this week.

We've talked so much about the FedExCup for ten years, but I still think going back, playing that last round with Vijay, that was a big deal to win that tournament. I beat a great player, you know, kind of in his prime. It felt like a big win to me, and it still would this year too.

Q. Adam, do you remember or recall your first reaction when you heard there was going to be a $10 million bonus at this event?
ADAM SCOTT: I probably must have smiled at some point to that. I know -- I mean, there was -- thinking back to the first announcement, that was obviously the standout thing, but there have been so many changes of points and structures and everything since, but I think that appealed to most everyone playing on the PGA Tour at the time.

Q. Do you think it's actually now a little less important than maybe the prestige of just winning the FedExCup has risen?
ADAM SCOTT: It's not less important, but I think the importance of the FedExCup has lifted over ten years of history. The prize money or the bonus for winning the FedExCup is still there, but I think there was no history behind the FedExCup ten years ago, and now there is some. So just the importance of the trophy is greater. So maybe they're on a similar level.

We see guys winning a lot of money out here all the time. So it's not -- I don't know what $10 million is worth today compared to then. It's all a lot of money. We play for a lot of money every week, and I've always felt like I don't want to think about that because it's a distraction.

Q. Sort of to follow on that, do you recall a time in your career -- maybe it was a time when the money really was something that you had to think about for yourself -- that thinking about the money was detrimental and that you had to get over that? Do you recall, was there ever a time, whatever you were playing for, maybe it was a smaller amount, but obviously maybe a meaningful amount to you?
ADAM SCOTT: Any bets I have with my friends when I play golf, no matter what the level, that is meaningful that I do not lose that money to them. That's about it.

I was very lucky turning pro and almost getting my Tour card instantly and having the support behind me to be in a position to not have to worry about whether I'm going to get a plane ticket to the next event or not or have a hotel room to stay in and have to sleep in my car. I was very fortunate not to be in that position.

But I don't like losing money to my friends on the golf course. So that's pressure.

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