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January 27, 2008
DOHA, QATAR
RODDY WILLIAMS: Adam, the 2008 Commercialbank Qatar Masters Champion, that was some final day. Give us your thoughts on that. It was incredible golf to watch. Yeah.
ADAM SCOTT: I just came out of the gates firing this morning, or this afternoon. To string off five in a row was ideal, really, kept me right in the tournament from there, and to keep it going pretty much all day was good, because it put pressure on those guys who were leading. You know, they had to deal with the fact they were -- well, Johan did, that they were out in front and now behind pretty much early in the round and they had to do the chasing.
So their mind-set had to change and I know Henrik must feel like he did everything he could and deserved to win this tournament starting the day two back I think, shooting 65 and not getting there.
I mean, to keep it going in that position, that makes it hard for those guys who were leading early in the day just from the fact that they thought they would be playing against each other and you know, put a little pressure on them because it's hard when you have to make birdies when the guy out in front is going to finish before you.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Were you aware of how low you were shooting and were you looking at leaderboards, and did a 59 ever come into your mind?
ADAM SCOTT: It didn't really come into my mind until 16 I guess, after I missed the putt, I pretty much figured that that was the end of the 59 chance. I did the calculations and thought I probably needed that one to have a realistic chance of it.
But to be honest, it wasn't in my mind at all. I was just trying to win the tournament. I looked at the leaderboard on 15 and saw that Henrik was still right with me and I knew I had to keep making birdies. You know, it wasn't ever really on my mind. It was for a brief second there on 16 but I was just trying to get the job done.
RODDY WILLIAMS: You've got a good record in Qatar, played twice, won twice, what is it about this place?
ADAM SCOTT: I don't know, the golf course suits my game. It's a driver's golf course, and it's been lengthened since I won here for the first time. I can imagine it will be a lot more difficult with the rough, as it was last year, the guys were all saying it was a lot longer.
It suits me well. I didn't play my best early in the week but I think maybe the shorter rough maybe let me get away with that but certainly played better on the weekend and took advantage.
Q. you will be back to World Number 5 after this - how do you feel about that?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, well, it's a move in the right direction, getting back to where I was. You know I haven't played poorly the last six months. It just hasn't been anything special. It's been solid stuff but nothing exciting. There's so many good players that when you do that, you know, you slowly, slowly slip away, and this time last year I was No. 3 in the world and feeling pretty good about myself.
I didn't have a great year by my standards that I set for myself, but it wasn't a poor year. Here starting this week, eighth in the world. The quality of golf is high all around the world. Everyone is playing hard and you know, this is a good move in the right direction for me to get a win early this year.
RODDY WILLIAMS: If you could give us the details of those birdies starting at the first.
ADAM SCOTT: Hit a driver 5-iron, lob-wedge and holed a 15-foot putt.
The second was a driver and a pitching wedge and a 12-foot putt, maybe ten feet.
The third hole was a 4-iron and another 10-footer.
The fourth was a 3-wood and lob-wedge, 12 footer I guess.
5th hole I hit a driver and a 9-iron to about three feet.
The 7th hole was a 3-wood and a sand wedge to about 15 feet.
10 was a driver, 3-wood and a chip and a putt from the green.
11 was a driver, pitching wedge to 15 feet.
12 was a driver, pitching wedge to eight feet.
15 was a 3-wood, 6-iron and 13 footer.
And 17 was an 8-iron to about six or eight feet.
RODDY WILLIAMS: How does that round compare with all our great rounds? It's your lowest round on The European Tour, great final round. How do you rate it?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's my lowest-ever round, actually, anywhere. I've shot 10-under a few times around the place but never 11. I mean, because it's in the final round, I think it's got to go down as my best round ever.
You know, I had a really good one last year at Jack's course in Ohio. I shot 10-under there in the second round. But I mean, the course setup is very difficult there and I rate that highly as well.
But under the pressure of being in contention in the last round, this is probably the best round of golf I've played.
RODDY WILLIAMS: And how does this set you up for the rest of the year and your goals going forward.
ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's all good so far. Got back in the swing of things quickly, and important to kind of build on this momentum now coming up. We've got a lot of big tournaments. There's two World Golf Championships and the Masters in the next 2 1/2 months. So hopefully keep this form rolling and then get in the mix in those ones, that's what the aim is.
Q. How does this win compare with last year's wins?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, well, actually, Houston last year was the first time I had ever actually won a tournament coming from behind. I had always been the front runner. You know, you tee off with a lot less pressure when you're behind. I had nothing to lose today. I could just go for it. It's not easy playing with the lead. Johann had Henrik Stenson breathing right down his neck, myself, and a host of others. And with the conditions the way they were today, it had been raining, it had softened the course a little bit, there was no wind to speak of. Guys were going to go low and the scoring was pretty decent for a Sunday, today, anyway.
You know, he would have been under pressure because he had a couple-shot lead. So it's not easy playing with the lead. When you're teeing off behind, you can free wheel it a bit and I certainly did that today.
Q. What advice can you give to young golfers ?
ADAM SCOTT: The main thing I tell kids is to enjoy the game and to get out there and play as much as you can and learn how to hit it far; that's the future of golf, I think. And pretty much all kids enjoy hitting the ball hard and trying to hit it as far as they can.
You know, junior golf around the world is so important, and what we saw the other day was great, just to have a turnout like that here in Qatar. I'm sure it won't be too long before there's a local player doing well out there.
Q. They are out there now if you want to give a few tips?
ADAM SCOTT: I'm not a good coach, that's the problem. They should get real help.
Q. What's your next tournament?
ADAM SCOTT: The L.A. Open (Northern Trust Open at Riviera) on the West Coast.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Congratulations and come back and make it three in a row.
End of FastScripts
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