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PGA CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 8, 2012Adam ScottKIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA KELLY ELBIN: Adam Scott joining us at the 94th PGA Championship, Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. This will be Adam's 12th PGA Championship. He has three Top‑10s, including a 7th place last year at the Atlanta Athletic Club. You mentioned you've played three practice rounds, maybe like to get out and play a little bit more this afternoon, but from what you've seen so far, perspective on The Ocean Course, please. ADAM SCOTT: I've had three pretty good looks at it, twice last week and then I played Monday morning this week. I feel like I'm getting a fairly good understanding of the golf course. It's obviously very long and very severe if you're off line. It's going to test every aspect of your game. But certainly, I believe there's no secret recipe to it. If you can hit some fairways and greens, you're going to give yourself a chance to score well. Start with a focus on ball‑striking and work on it from there. KELLY ELBIN: A couple strong par 3s on the back nine, 14 and 17, could you talk about each for just a minute, please. ADAM SCOTT: 14 and 17 are very long, very difficult green complex par 3s. But they kind of sit right in with the whole back nine; it's all difficult. And certainly there's going to be some drama there Sunday and somebody who plays a great nine holes could possibly make up a lot of shots on the leader or completely run away with the tournament with a good nine holes. So it's going to be exciting, for sure. You just have to get out there and hit the best shots you can, and if you hit a good shot, they will be rewarded. Q. A lot of guys, yourself included, have compared this to TPC Sawgrass a little bit, Pete Dye course. Since you've had success there, do you lick your chops at all when you come here to play in a major? ADAM SCOTT: Look, I think it sets up well for me if I strike the ball well this week. I think there's a big‑‑ the guy who leads greens in regulation has to do well this week, I'd think. It's just so long. And if you are getting more looks at birdie, and then obviously 2‑putting for pars, that's going to be pretty good at the end of the week. It does, especially the back nine, well, even the front nine with some of the waste bunkers down the side, looks like Sawgrass, and that's the same designer. In some ways, very similar. In other ways, a bit different I guess around the greens, a lot less rough here. And I think it sets up well for me. If I strike the ball well, then I feel like I can be one of those guys who has a little edge. KELLY ELBIN: For the record Adam won the 2004 PLAYERS Championship at Pete's course, the Stadium Course. Q. How long did it take you to shake out the residue from The Open and do you take a positive from how well you've played there regardless of the last four holes? ADAM SCOTT: Absolutely take a positive from it. I played maybe the best golf of my career for the whole week, really. Unfortunately I didn't get a win. But even with the last four holes, taking it as a whole, I played spectacular golf for such a long period of time in a major championship. That's something I've been working to do for my whole career and finally that's happened. So I've got to take the positive that I'm getting somewhere now. I feel great about that and I feel very motivated to do that again. I think probably it took last week, getting back out and playing to kind of shake it off fully. I was ready to play last week, and didn't play that well and lost my rhythm slightly throughout the week with my swing. But I think now, you know, I've got one out of the system after The Open, and certainly great to have another crack at a major so soon after. That great play wasn't that long ago. So it won't be that hard for me to find again I think. Q. Ernie was just in and you obviously talked Sunday night at The Open and mentioned you have talked a couple of times since; wonder if you can share some of that conversation that you guys have had. And secondly, have you gone back at all to watch sort of the finish, or is it still too painful or maybe go back to watch your body language and that sort of thing? ADAM SCOTT: Ernie and I spoke a little bit before the presentation. We were held somewhere there before the presentation at Lytham. He was obviously‑‑ it was kind of a shame, because he should have been so happy and he felt a little sorry for me, and that's not the way you want to win. I certainly didn't want to spoil his parade, so to speak. So he was nice. He had nice words for me. You know, kind of assured me that I'll have chances and win plenty of them. That was nice of him to say. We have spoken a couple times since, but not really about anything specific. Just being the friend he is, he just was concerned about how I was doing. I assured him that I'm doing fine and ready to get on with it. And the second part, I haven't watched the tape. Not because it was too painful but because I pretty much know what happened out there. I can re‑live it quite clearly. I spoke to my coach and I spoke to Steve, and that's‑‑ and I obviously have my own feelings about it, and I think we've kind of consulted each other on that and know what to take out of it; and continue to work away at all the pieces of the puzzle of putting good golf together. Q. Obviously everybody is fired up for a major, motivation to play a major, but is there something different or extra coming into this one, given what happened? Is there a little bit of that ‑‑ fired up, like when a rugby team loss and has to play again; is there something extra in there given now that you're ready to do it again? ADAM SCOTT: Probably a little bit. I mean, I've been really fired up for all the majors this year. That's what I've thought about a lot in my practice and preparation. You know, I got a great taste of it there obviously at The Open. And I do think it's a great thing. I'm lucky that just three weeks later I'm going to have another go at it. And if I can channel some of that energy that I had going at The Open week and the feelings in my golf swing, then this is a great chance for me to kind of get the victory after a tough loss like those rugby teams might or whatever. Yeah, I'm pretty fired up for it, I've got to say. It's good to be here. Q. Can you talk a little bit about your strategy playing when the wind is very high? At Lytham, you did very well in the wind, I noticed you didn't hit it particularly lower than usual it seemed to me. How do you approach playing in the wind? ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's different at Lytham than, say, playing here. Obviously the ball runs a lot on a links course and there's often an entryway into a green on the ground there. So if you can control your ball flight low, you can keep the ball out of the wind and have it not as affected, and I was swinging well and had everything under control. I drove the ball great. I teed it very low and just hit very low, hot runners off the tee and they were going straight all week. I was at a huge advantage, because I was hitting a lot of drivers out there and playing somewhat aggressively I guess. But probably a different story here if the wind gets up, because you're still going to have to hit the ball in the air. There are a lot of forced carries off tees and there are some forced carries into greens, so there's no option of running the ball along the ground up on to the greens. You just have to really have to stand up there and hit a great shot. And it's kind of an educated guess on how much the wind will affect your shot. If you hit the shot well, you'll have a good idea how much it affects it, but if you mis‑strike it, it's up to Mother Nature to determine where your ball is going to finish. Q. You put on a clinic through three rounds at Lytham last month; if you find yourself in the same position here on Sunday, are you worried about some of those feelings creeping back, some of those emotions that maybe you were feeling on the back nine there at Lytham? ADAM SCOTT: I don't think I'd be worried about it. It may or may not happen. You know, if I was in that position again, I'd feel like I'm playing pretty good. So at that point, I'd be quite confident. But, the couple of things that I took out of it, hopefully put into practice at that point and not let that happen again. It's certainly not something you'd like to make a habit of, and I never have; I've generally been a good closer of golf tournaments in my career. You know, I'd like‑‑ if I was in that position, I'd like to turn it around this time and close the golf tournament out. Q. Talk a little about the paspalum grass and whether or not it changes anything in your game. ADAM SCOTT: It's slightly different. We haven't played much on it in tournament golf. A lot of the golf courses that some of us practice at probably have it on it, so it's not completely unfamiliar. But it grabs the golf ball quite a lot, especially chipping, I would say. And it's a slightly slower grass than, well, a bentgrass or even bermuda or hybrid bermudas; I think it's slower. But it's very consistent. So if you can adapt to it this week, there's no reason why you can't play well on it. KELLY ELBIN: Adam Scott, thank you very much for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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