THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Adam Scott

Mixed Zone

Q. How pleased are you with your round today?

ADAM SCOTT: It was pretty solid. I think the wind change kind of made the back nine play tough even though it was downwind. I hadn't really played in that wind and made a couple of errors, but it was a fairly uneventful day.

I played solid and pretty happy to start under par.

Q. You mentioned the back nine. Just how challenging is that?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's going to play as easy as it can all week, I think, because the ball is getting up there on these holes, the 11th. Last time I played it, it was 2-irons and 3-irons into every hole, and today it was a sand wedge into 15.

But trying to figure that out, it was a bit like a practise round, the back nine, for me today. Made an error on 16, hit one too much off the tee and cost me a bogey. Other than that, everything was good.

Q. Obviously very close into it. What would it mean to you to be in contention come Sunday?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it would be great. My game is finally in some decent shape where I feel like I'm controlling the ball well. That's what you need to do out here, especially if you're going to give yourself a lot of chances.

It's sometimes easy to scrap it around the links, but you're not going to hole a lot of 40-footers. So at some point you're going to need to hit some really quality iron shots from the fairway to get it in close to some tucked pins and give yourself more realistic chances. They're the guys who are going to be up there at the end of the week.

Q. What are your feelings coming out of last week and coming here? Obviously you like links golf, but at the same time, a little disappointing but yet, like you said, you're playing very well coming in.

ADAM SCOTT: Sure, I was slightly disappointed, but Bob made great putts 14 through 18 coming home, and when you make putts like that, you win tournaments when you're right up there. I wish I made a couple coming in, but I didn't.

I was pleased to be in contention because the fact of the matter is that's the first time I've contended this year. My game felt a lot better tee to green, and that showed up for the first time really in four years or so I've had some confidence in some form going into a major.

Q. Do you feel you had your emotions in check coming down the stretch? Something that if you don't get a lot of, sometimes it fails you at times?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think that was one of the things that I reflected on after, that I felt good in that position. I felt where I should be, and I think I played to the standard I should given I was contending for a big tournament at the end. That was reassuring, I'd say.

Q. What have you found now?

ADAM SCOTT: Like most weeks this year, I moved some equipment things around leading into the Scottish Open, but I think kind of moved them all into the right spot throughout the bag, from the driver all the way down.

A nice pattern started emerging in my swing before the Scottish Open with those few adjustments to the equipment. It's incredible. It's one of those things I've been looking for, like it just started feeling easy again whereas I feel like it's been hard work and I don't know why. I couldn't quite figure it out.

Q. Did Trevor see anything, a second set of eyes? Did he help at all?

ADAM SCOTT: He helps, but it wasn't really like a technical thing. It was really more the shafts and the irons actually, I think, allowed me to just start swinging a lot better.

Q. You mentioned the wind change. How rare is that to have kind of a wind change and kind of seemingly make guys adjust throughout this round?

ADAM SCOTT: To be honest, I feel like it's to be expected at The Open. I feel it can be unpredictable, and even teeing off in a fairly strong wind into on the 1st, I still felt like that might be the best conditions of the day so I should take advantage of it.

It made me think all day because I haven't played that wind this week, and really I was picking clubs for the first time off every tee today. I hit very different clubs than I did in any practise rounds.

Q. What's important off the course to conserve energy at The Open just with the weather and the long days?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, we have great setups every week now. Going to the gym is not conserving energy, but there's recovery centers and physios and all kinds of things and a very luxurious lounge for us to put our feet up in. So we're well taken care of.

Q. Do you ever come over here and play links golf outside of Open venues? Do you enjoy it? Obviously not this week necessarily.

ADAM SCOTT: I did last week. I played Turnberry and Muirfield last week. Yeah, I do. I still have a couple courses on the list that I need to golf. I haven't been up to Dornoch and Nairn yet. There are a few others on my list in Scotland still.

Q. What was the impetus about changing iron shafts?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, I've been fiddling around with my equipment this year, and I tried to -- since about the Masters, I tried to keep things fairly consistent because I was getting bad looks from people around me about fiddling with equipment too much. Sometimes you know -- I gave it a fair crack, and sometimes you know it's just not right.

I just had an instinct that I should go back and try an iron shaft that I've used once before. I've only ever really used three different shafts in my career. Fortunately, but unfortunately, I waited an extra five or six weeks to do it from when I first had the feeling, but that was a good time to do it last week, or the week before the Scottish. It fell right into place.

It was as quick as it felt easy to swing the club again. It was much less work for me, which is a nice feeling.

Q. What shaft?

ADAM SCOTT: It was a Project X LZ. I used it in 2016. I don't know why I changed from it. I played good that year, so of course I changed it.

Q. Because you're a professional golfer, right?

ADAM SCOTT: Correct answer.

Q. Are you surprised the scoring hasn't been better? 2-under is leading.

ADAM SCOTT: Maybe a little bit, but it just seems like it's not that easy to hit it close in this wind. I don't know whether it's the lack of experience playing this wind. It just seemed hard to force it in there close.

I think we're all a little timid with our putting. The greens are so much slower than we're used to, and it's a major. You don't want to start racing putts by, but it's hard to even get it to the hole. I think today is about finding your feel for the week and maybe better scoring after this.

Q. Do you guys shut down the board stuff during the majors, or do you still have to concentrate a little bit on that this week?

ADAM SCOTT: The Tour board, you mean? No, we have Joe Ogilvie taking all notes necessary for us this week. I'm sure he'll have some good stuff for me next week.