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JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

February 28, 2007

Adam Scott

PHUKET, THAILAND

CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Welcome, Adam. You won in the Johnnie Walker in 2005, you must be pleased to come to Thailand, talk about the golf course for a start.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's my first time here in Phuket, so obviously excited. It's a pretty nice place to come to play a golf tournament, so makes for a nice week, and the course is looking very good. I've seen the greens are rolling at a pretty quick speed in the week so I'll be interested to see how that shapes up over the weekend. That could be a bit of a secret to the golf course.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Your schedule so far, you've played only three events on the PGA TOUR, has that been deliberate, or is there a reason behind that?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, yeah, I took five weeks off after the Mercedes tournament. I didn't really take a break at the end of last year at all, so I decided I would take it at start of this year and put the clubs away and got back into it a couple of weeks ago.
Showing signs, five weeks with no golf, a little disappointed but half-expected to play poorly over the past couple of weeks, but certainly done a fair bit of work since I bowed out in the first round. Worked with Butch after that and I'm feeling a lot better here this week.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: So apart from winning the Johnnie Walker in Beijing a few years ago, you won twice in a row in Singapore; what is it about Asia that you seem comfortable with, Adam?
ADAM SCOTT: I don't know. I'm on a good run over here at the moment. It hard to say what it is. I certainly enjoy coming and playing here obviously and I just like the challenge of a different style of golf course, the different grasses, the heat. I think getting back to my roots a little bit with the heat from living in Australia, I've been living over in the U.K. for so long now, it's been -- I've gotten used to their climate. But certainly I like coming over here and playing and the fields are getting stronger and stronger and it makes winning these events mean that much more.

Q. Retief was in here earlier saying he almost preferred than playing in the US; are you one of them?
ADAM SCOTT: As far as?

Q. Almost preferring to play in the conditions here on these courses than going to America.
ADAM SCOTT: I think the balance of everything is pretty healthy for a well-rounded game. Obviously there are some advantages of playing in America, but there are some disadvantages as well. And I think being a world golfer like Retief or Ernie are, and guys in the past have been certainly -- provide you with a lot more challenges.
And I think you gain benefits from adverse conditions. It's not often that you get to play in humidity like this, and on occasion, the US PGA is extremely hot and humid, and just having a little experience in these conditions could pay off at the end of the year in a major championship.

Q. Does it make the exercise more entertaining doing what you do, going to different places, rather than just playing the American tour?
ADAM SCOTT: I think that's something I've certainly enjoyed throughout my career so far, being able to travel the world, in Europe obviously, playing in a different country every week is a different culture obviously.
And coming through Asia and having a chance to see the cultures over here and experiencing different lifestyles and different places to live around the world, not only is it good for your golf game, like I said before, but I think it's good for you to realise how the rest of the world works.

Q. Are we going to see more top players coming to the region?
ADAM SCOTT: I think so. We seen the Asian Tour grow quite a lot; I have. Certainly the Johnnie Walker has been, you know, a big event for 15 years now in Asia for more maybe. The growth of the Singapore Open in the last few years and I hear big things for the future at the end of this year and beyond for that event. I think with that, with more money and time and effort being put into the Asian Tour, I think everything will snowball: The courses will get better, the facilities will get better and players the will get better. Certainly if it's done the right way, Asia golfers are going to become better golfers, and you know, champions.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Goal for this week here at the Johnnie Walker, Adam?
ADAM SCOTT: Goal? I came here to win the tournament obviously. I feel like my game has certainly improved since a last played a tournament round. I'm swinging the club a lot better. The challenge this week is getting the ball to the right spots and the greens are rolling well. I think I'm going to make some putts out there this week.

Q. The last time you were in the region at the Singapore Open, you went head-to-head with Ernie, that three-hole playoff where it rained, is he your main challenger you see here this week? Is it going to be another big battle between the two of you?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I don't think I can just single out Ernie to be honest. All respect to him, I think Paul Casey is in great form and has been for the last six or seven months. Retief won just a few weeks ago in Qatar, so that's just for starters. Certainly there's not just one or two guys here this week; the field is pretty deep. Colin is here, Mike Weir is here, and then obviously the local Asian players; I think Thongchai is a fantastic player and expect him to play well in front of his home crowd, too.

Q. How will the quick greens affect your game, considering you missed some crucial putts in the Match Play Championship?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's not so much the speed of the greens that's going to affect me. It's more my stroke I think. I just need and spend some time on putting green now and get the speed of them.
You know, I feel like at the Match Play, it was more of a lack of competition than anything that let me down. I had not played in a while and had not been in a position where I had to absolutely make a putt. And I may be lacking a little confidence or tournament hardness, anyway, and hopefully I've got it sorted out on the green and I'm in good shape for this week.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: What did you work on?
ADAM SCOTT: We worked on mostly my swing. My lower body was just outracing my upper body. I've had that for a long time and really it has not shown up for a while. But I think maybe after the five-week layoff, I crept into some old habits. So just worked on straightening that out.

Q. Do you feel now at this stage of your career, world No. 4, this year, you go win a major, U.S. Masters coming up, are you able to do it this year?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I am, I think probably -- I think last year, I was -- I felt for the first time I was really capable of winning a major. This year, even more so, and I've really planned my schedule around being prepared for a major. I think preparation is the most important thing for me now going into majors, just doing all of the right things leading up to it. So it's just a matter of executing on the week.
Now it's easy enough to say that, but I feel in the past my preparation has not been -- has not been totally geared towards the majors. You know, I've worried about every other event leading up to it and wanting to play my best there as well, which I still do, but it's really like I've put the last two weeks behind me. I'm not worried. I'm just getting back into it and I'm getting started on my run for Augusta. So it would be nice to play well leading into it, but I'm certainly gearing up more for majors this year.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Thank you very much

End of FastScripts

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