PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2020

Adam Scott

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

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JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Pleased to be joined by Adam Scott. Adam, thank you for hanging out an extra moment there. We appreciate it.

ADAM SCOTT: Okay.

JOHN DEVER: Adam posted a 70 today and has a two-day total of 2-under par. Adam, your round, did you have more difficulties out there or was it the conditions or some mix there?

ADAM SCOTT: It was a bit of a mixed bag. I guess overall my iron play wasn't very good today, and my scrambling was pretty good. But a round where I never really had the momentum. I drove it a lot better than yesterday, which I was happy about, but I just couldn't get it in there close enough to have really good looks at birdie, and I missed a few extra greens from the fairway, which is kind of not really my style.

It was a bit of a grind. I'm definitely going to have to find my rhythm with my irons over the weekend.

Q. As you look toward the weekend and look at this golf course, is it the type of course that could produce big swings?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it is. You know, you have -- you play well like Tommy Fleetwood today, 64, you can play just average and shoot 2- or 3-over. Big gaps there. You can make up the numbers. I'm going to need a really good round tomorrow, really solid stuff to kind of put myself in with a chance, I believe.

Two solid rounds over the weekend could go a long way. Putting one good round together is possible, but two could go a long way out here.

Q. We normally don't talk about sort of the luck of the draw at this particular championship. Was there much of a difference from yesterday afternoon to this morning?

ADAM SCOTT: It was a little friendlier this morning. I felt like the sky lifted pretty early, and it wasn't that cold and the ball wasn't going ridiculously short, but the wind was up this morning. It was a factor right from the start, and it makes it a little tricky.

You really have to strike your shot properly to know where it's going to go or how far it's going to go at least. If you mis-hit it and it stands up into the wind, it's going to go maybe 20 yards shorter than you're thinking from 200 yards potentially if you don't hit it well, whereas if you hit it the right way and use the wind, you can get a bit out of it.

Like I said at the start, that's where I struggled a little bit, through kind of the middle of the round I just didn't hit my irons well, and I found myself in bunkers, and they're actually not very easy to play out of here.

Q. Ken Venturi, who played here so much, he was always a big believer that gray days were easier for scoring. Where do you come down on that? When the sun comes out do you feel better? Do you like that? Or do you think it's easier on gray?

ADAM SCOTT: I'm not sure. Yeah, I think sometimes in tougher conditions or adverse conditions, you can play within yourself a bit more. You expect a little less out of yourself than when you get in ideal conditions, like a beautiful day today. But it's tricky out there.

It's funny playing majors when the penalty is high for a small miss, I think of my ninth hole, and I really want to kind of get my iron shot back to the hole, but then I risk bringing a lot of trouble into play, so I hit less club and try and -- a good shot will finish in the middle of the green, and then I didn't strike it so crisp so it drifts on the wind and now it's 65 feet and I'm struggling anyway.

It's really a good test out there, but I think those gray days, you sometimes know it's going to be tough, and you bring the expectations down and play within yourself, and I think that's a nice place to play golf. I don't know if that's where Ken -- how he got there.

Q. He just thought it was easier to see the ball, I think. To follow up on that topic, you mentioned No. 9. How about No. 8? You looked like you hit a good shot there. Nobody is hitting it close to that hole except one or two shots. Is it playing as tough as it looks like on paper?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's a very tough shot. It was really between a 4- and a 5-iron for me. If I hit a good golf shot the 5-iron was going to get to the front and if it was left at all then it was a problem, so I had to hit the 4 and I hit it kind of one groove low of the middle, and it just doesn't have any rise and softness about it, it's just -- and it pitches at the hole and rolls to the back, and I was quite happy with the shot because that was a good spot to be. There are a few holes like that.

I thought the pins were more close to the edge today. I mean, which always had you thinking. You wanted to attack some, but there was a little room for a miss on one side all the time. It was a good golf course today.

Q. Just curious how aggressive do you feel like you have to get tomorrow to get back into contention in this tournament?

ADAM SCOTT: I don't think you really have to change my game plan. I just need to hit my irons in on the lines I'm looking at. Even when I hit the greens today, it was always kind of a few yards further away than the line I was looking at. I think I've just got to execute a bit better to be honest. I drove it good, so I feel good about that, and if I can get my irons going on the range this arvo and wake up with that same feeling tomorrow, get a few more birdies happening.

Q. How would you describe Haotong Li's golf game and his personality?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, his golf, I haven't played that much with him, but he's got all the weapons in the bag. You know, I guess I'd call it erratic, but he's got all the tools, as you see through two rounds here today. I seem to remember him shooting a great round on a Sunday at a British Open a few years back. He's got the arsenal to take it low and play, but we don't see that kind of consistency out of him, and that probably matches his personality a little bit. He's young, though, and that's kind of -- that's the kind of golf he plays. He plays pretty much all guns blazing, and when it comes off, it's really good.