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SHELL HOUSTON OPENMarch 28, 2007Adam ScottHUMBLE, TEXAS JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Adam Scott. Adam, your first start here since 2003. The initial year we were at Redstone. You had a chance to play the golf course today. Maybe you can talk a little bit what you saw out there, and we'll open it up for some questions. ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's quite a long golf course out here. They tried to set it up as similar as possible to Augusta, so they've done that. They've kept the rough short, few run-off areas out there and the course is in fantastic condition. I doubt we'll be play better all year. It's really up to them how firm and fast they want to get it now. JOE CHEMYCZ: Questions? Q. Adam, they've done this with the idea of drawing more people here to get ready for the Masters. Do you think something -- can they do anything that will get people to change their schedules? ADAM SCOTT: I really don't think so. I think if a guy likes to take a week off before Augusta, he's going to take a week off and prepare, and if the guy feels like he wants to play into it, then he'll come and play no matter what the course is. Certainly if you're going to play, then it's nice that the course is somewhat similar condition-wise to Augusta. This is, you know, coverage of grass out there is beautiful. The greens are rolling great. So, you know, I'm very happy that I'm here and playing because it is somewhat similar. Q. We are seeing an increase in the international field even though a lot of people live in the States, most of the time anyway. Is that -- do you see that as continuing to improve? I know two -- what was it? About two decades before we have Seve and Woosie and people like that playing. Do you think this is some kind of an international-type look to this field because of that? ADAM SCOTT: Yes. This particular week, you mean? Q. Yes, this week? ADAM SCOTT: I've seen a lot of European Tour players here this week. Probably most of those guys were at Doral last week, but maybe some came in this week to just kind of warm up for Augusta, also, to have some golf in America before playing a Augusta. You know, certainly I think it's the same for me when I'm over here, I like to be playing over here and getting some rounds in rather than sitting around having a practice week, and, you know, doing that back at home is not going to be really good and making the long trip over, the start of the week at Augusta. I see these guys, you know, using this as preparation week, getting the work done they need to and hopefully getting some, you know, good competition playing. Q. Adam, you're the highest ranked player here. Is that pressure a burden, or how do you approach that? ADAM SCOTT: Well, not really. I mean, couple times in the past I've been the highest ranked player at a tournament, but, you know, it doesn't really mean much because the fields are so strong and so deep that a guy on any given week, you know, can beat Tiger, too. So it doesn't really mean much, but it's an important week for me. I'd like to get myself into contention this week. That's for sure. Q. We remember you coming to Houston as a young kid. Give me some of your thoughts on the city. Do you like coming here? Is that one of your favorite places to go? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. I was lucky, I was given an invite from Steve back in 2001 was the first time I came over at the Woodlands, which I love playing over there and, you know, so I came back the next year and gave me another invite, which was nice. And I came and played Redstone. I don't know if I got an invite for that the first year it was here. Maybe I did. Certainly they've been fantastic and very welcoming to me here in Houston. So it's nice that it will fit in with my schedule this year to get back and have a look at the new course. Q. Adam, you haven't played a lot anywhere this year. I'm kind of wondering where you are with your game, where your head is, just kind of how you feel here with the run up to the Masters. ADAM SCOTT: I'm feeling pretty fresh, obviously. I haven't played a lot, but it was kind of intentional. You know, I feel like coming into the summer and toward the end of the summer, it's going to be a lot of golf in a short space of time, and, you know, that was kind of the reason for the slow start. Really, very happy with how my game is looking. I'd just like to have a week in contention before I got to Augusta. I was really hoping that it would be last week. I didn't do it. This week would be really great to get there and get in the mix and just have that -- the competitive juices flowing a little bit and sort of the nerves out before Augusta. Q. What did you do on your six-week break that you took, and how does that affect your game when you came back? ADAM SCOTT: I was pretty rusty. I didn't hit a shot for five weeks, so I was very rusty but, you know, I needed to do it. I felt -- I don't think it's necessarily hurt me, but I've been -- I just haven't quite got back into a rhythm on the course yet, which is a little frustrating, but I'm trying to keep the bigger picture in mind, and everything I've done so far this year is kind of working towards next week and making sure that's going to be the week that I peak. Q. What did you do with those five weeks you were off? ADAM SCOTT: I was in Switzerland for a bit, up in the snow, and I was in the UK for a little bit, and I was not doing a hell of a lot. Q. What did that do for your mind to get away for that long? Because that's kind of a nice -- ADAM SCOTT: It's a good break. I've never had that long off before. You know, I didn't -- when I picked the clubs up again, it didn't feel like I had five weeks off. I still felt like I had been playing, but obviously I was a bit scrappy with the swing. Q. You talk about the world rankings. Having dropped a spot back to No. 5, has that sort of added incentive this week? ADAM SCOTT: No. I've said before the word rankings don't matter unless you're around the 50th or the 1st, so you know, sure I'd like to stay in the Top-5 or Top-10 or whatever it is, but I'm not really paying attention to world rankings. Q. Did you ski? Were you skiing in Switzerland? ADAM SCOTT: No, I didn't ski. Q. Snow boarding, just hanging out in the snow, throwing snowballs? A Threw a few snowballs, sure. Q. Was this something that somebody suggested to you, or did you just come up with the idea that you needed to get away for a little while? ADAM SCOTT: I just felt like, you know, if I kept playing and -- I don't know. I felt like I maybe hit a wall in the summertime, which is not the time to be doing it because there's a lot riding on it, everything, from, you know, next week through till the last week in September, pretty much when everything winds up. It's going to be a lot of golf played in between now and then, and, you know, I didn't feel like getting into July and feeling like I'm done. So I played right through, finished up at Tiger's event the 15th of December, played a couple in Australia. I didn't have the break at the end of the last year. Q. I looked back, though, and this is kind of a place that you start hitting your stride, you know, right in this timeframe, whether it was Players or whatever. You seem to kind of hit that and then take off? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. I just need to hit it. Hopefully -- I'm actually excited about this week. You know, I think this course with the rough down is kind of nice because it's forgiving. It's not going to punish you like the last four, five weeks we've seen on Tour and, you know, a couple errant shots they hit, you might not get so severely punished and might be able to keep something going, good for the confidence. It's really a great week for me to go out and do well and put my head down and get in the mix. Q. You had a lot of kind of trial and error in terms of how to prepare for Majors. You finished last year with two really strong Majors. I'm wondering, what have you learned in your approach and just what do you think you understand or -- ADAM SCOTT: You got to try and just feel comfortable with the game. It's hard work if you're getting -- you're on the range on Tuesday or Wednesday, you know, trying to rebuild your swing. It's a matter of working with what you've got, and then the Majors are just about hanging in there, really. You know, the chances that you're going to be firing on all cylinders that week are not particularly good, considering there's only probably three, four weeks of the year that you actually do, so it's about, you know, encouraging your game to be in good shape and it's all about preparation. So, I think preparation goes beyond just the week before. It's the months leading into it. Q. How well prepared do you feeling right now? You sound a little, I don't know, little uncertain or iffy? ADAM SCOTT: I'm very well prepared. Like I said, the only thing I feel like I'm lacking is competition, being in the mix. I was there in Kapalua, but that was a long time ago now. I'd like to throw myself back up the top of the leaderboard and get those, you know, butterflies in the stomach a little bit feeling for next week, but I feel great. I think my preparation is going really well. Q. Adam, how do you think the shaved-down rough is going to affect scoring? Do you think it's going to be a birdie fest or around the greens it will maybe keep the scores a little higher? ADAM SCOTT: I think there's going to be a lot of birdies this week. The wind is the only thing I can see, you know, preventing it. But still, I think even if it's windy, it's going to be, you know, 20 under, something like that. Q. You talked a little bit about this setup here being beneficial for you for next week. Any particular holes, or what attributes did you see on this course that you think you can carry over to Augusta? ADAM SCOTT: The greens, you know, they're not quite as severe as Augusta, but they're certainly running well, and there are some slopes on the greens or, you know, spots on the greens that are quite severe. I just think the condition of the course, it seems -- I was at Augusta on Monday. The rough seems about the same length. You know, the fairways, it's all playing sort of similar, so it's nice to have two weeks in a row on the same kind of grass. Q. You played with a guy named Kevin Coffee (phonetic) this morning. What did you think of his attire? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, he was Ian Poulter-esque. Just nice. He matched up nicely in the lilac today. Q. Have you ever asked to borrow any of Ian's clothes? ADAM SCOTT: No. They look good on him. Q. Did anything surprise you at Augusta when you played? Was there anything that just stuck out at you that is a change there? ADAM SCOTT: No. I mean, obviously the pine straw down the right of 11, but I didn't really see anything that different. Q. Adam, how was it playing? Or do we need to ask? ADAM SCOTT: No, was playing great. Actually I thought it was in the best condition I've ever seen it, which is nice because they obviously had a good growing season. Sometimes it's a little thin around there so -- it was in really good shape. Q. Were you keeping score? ADAM SCOTT: No, we played a Skins game. Q. Who did you play with? ADAM SCOTT: Jeff and Paul Casey. Q. How much of their money did you take? ADAM SCOTT: I managed to get a couple of Skins, but Jeff got most of them and Paul went home with no Skins. Q. Were there a lot of people over there on Monday? ADAM SCOTT: I saw Stewart Cink was over there. That was about it. We met the new chairman. Q. Billy? ADAM SCOTT: Billy. Those were the only three groups I saw on the course. Q. Billy was out playing? ADAM SCOTT: It was a fantastic day. It was beautiful. Q. Adam, you said last year that you thought in the past, maybe you had sort of a defensive approach to playing in Majors. Is that one of the things did you differently last year? ADAM SCOTT: I just played. I just didn't think about that it's so difficult or the consequences of bad shot. I just played it like a normal tournament and certainly much improved last year. Q. What are your thoughts on Southern Hills for the PGA? ADAM SCOTT: I don't know. I've never been there. I don't know anything about it. Q. What have you heard about the course? ADAM SCOTT: I haven't heard anything about it, actually. JOE CHEMYCZ: Okay. Adam, thank you. Play well this week. ADAM SCOTT: Okay. End of FastScripts |
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