THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2013

Adam Scott

MIKE WOODCOCK: Adam, that's a very good round in testing conditions today. I think that puts you on 1-over for the championship. The last time I checked the leaderboard, three off the lead. How do you feel about your round today?

ADAM SCOTT: It was a good round of golf today. I hit a lot of really good shots. It was really solid stuff. I made a couple of putts. Made a couple of mistakes, but I think overall 1-under par out there today is a really solid round of golf. It puts me in good position for tomorrow.

Q. Are you starting to get any feelings of building on last year, what happened last year? Is it starting to become a good feeling for you again?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's a good feeling to sit here in this position, absolutely. It's completely different. I think I go out there tomorrow not carrying the weight of the lead or not having won a Major. So it's a different feeling. Hopefully I can play enough quality shots to give myself chances to be in the hunt right at the end. But it's a long way off. The course, it can turn around on you in a heartbeat out there, if you're not careful. I'll be treading cautiously tomorrow.

Q. Are you done flashing back to last year's Open Championship? It says par 71, but what is it really playing in your mind?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think honestly I haven't flashed back since Akron last year. I haven't thought about the entirety of it at all. I thought it's best not to. Just take the couple of bits that I wanted to and leave it as an experience. And the way I remember it is only as a great week. So I'm done with that. But the par out here is probably 75, I think, to be fair. That's like average. These are the best players in the world who I say are better than average. So I think 75 is about par.

Q. If you could describe the challenge of today as opposed to the first couple of days. And also is this a different kind of satisfaction for you the way you're playing right now, considering what you've achieved in the past year?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, the course, I think, played the best today, honestly. I think it's right where you want The Open Championship to be on a Saturday. The greens were consistent. They were fast and true. The pin spots were all very fair. You just had a really demanding golf course that required a lot of thought and strategy, and I don't think you can ask for any more than that. What was the other part of your question?

Q. Satisfaction.
ADAM SCOTT: Satisfaction, yeah. Well, I'm satisfied with how I'm playing this week. The last few events I haven't really played that crash hot. So it's nice to put myself back in this position. I worked hard over the last couple of weeks since AT&T. So I'm happy that I'm sitting here and I'm going to have a chance to play a good round tomorrow.

Q. Would it be a reasonable description to say you've been going on the radar a little bit to reach the point you are at the end of the third round?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, for sure, I just kind of plodding along at even par for most of the week. And the lead was 6-under early, so I was well off the radar. But the course is playing tougher every day. So I've somehow crept back into it.

Q. Obviously having won your first Major this year, do you look at it now from a very different position? Is it nice to have that thought behind you all the time, that it's no longer on your back?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think so. And especially probably in this situation where I am right now, when you look at it. I feel like I've got, well, nothing really to lose tomorrow and Majors to gain. So that's certainly a nice feeling, whereas before in some ways it was getting to the point where you're hoping it was going to happen tomorrow. It is absolutely a weight off your shoulders to have the first one. I can't tell you anything other than that.

Q. Phil said earlier that other than No. 9 he didn't feel that there was really another birdie hole out there, and you better make some 20-footers in order to make some birdies. What is the score you think you have to shoot if the guys come in at 2-under or 1-under to get in the hunt tomorrow? Is mom cooking for you every night now or not?
ADAM SCOTT: To create opportunities you have to hit great shots. It's hard to get the perfect number in this wind and judge the bounce out or roll out or the trundle, or whatever you like to call it, up to the pin. There's a bit of luck involved in that as well as a good shot. I don't know that there's one birdie hole. You can mess 9 up pretty quickly. And mum has got the week off cooking.

Q. Why is No. 16, I think it's playing 180-something, there's been one birdie there today and 24 bogeys and I think 7 others, what's the challenge of that hole right there?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's playing -- what was it, 187 or 190, something like that, and I hit a great 4-iron that came up 10 yards short. It's playing long. And it's so straight into the wind that if you put any sidespin on the ball, it's magnified ten times. So I feel like a one-yard draw is a ten-yard hook. So it's going to punish a shot that's not executed perfectly. And that pin spot is probably the toughest on the course today. It's just sitting perched right on top of a little rise there. And it would be very hard to chip it close on that one. It's no doubt one of the toughest holes out there today.

Q. You've been with Steve now for obviously a few years, but on a day like this or a week like this, he's been out here for a long time, he's been on a lot of bags, how much do you rely on him to, I don't know, maybe even as a bit of sort of reassurance of par is a good score, there's no need to worry about not having made birdies? How much of that does he bring to you?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, well that's his forte, you know. His experience is there in these events where par is a good score. And his success is there in it, as well. And he prides himself on keeping his man at par or better, no matter how hard the course is. And we play it in a way according to that, I think. So we're right around the mark. But at times when you want to push, he's there to pull the reins in, if need be. He knows it's 72 holes and it can't be won on the 6th on Friday. He's got the big picture in mind when it comes to the 72-hole outcome.

Q. Has that given you some confidence in terms of staying with the plan, even though you need a lot of patience?
ADAM SCOTT: Absolutely. It's absolutely rubbed off on me the last couple of years, to the point where I think we just walk out there with the same mindset almost now. And it's proven to work, as well. My results have been good the last couple of years with Steve in the big events, and the scoring average -- my scoring average has been a lot better.

Q. I know there's a lot of golf still to be played, but if you could win tomorrow, how would that wrap up probably the most incredible year in any golfer's life from what happened 12 months ago through the Masters through this? It would be quite a story, wouldn't it?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. I think I said it in here on Wednesday, it would be a fairytale, I think, if that were to happen. But they do occasionally happen. So I'm not counting myself out of it at all.

Q. I'm curious what you take the most positive thing out of this round? And how you develop that into carrying it into tomorrow?
ADAM SCOTT: Just the amount of quality shots I hit in the winds, starting on the right lines all the time. The swing was really feeling nice today. It was all under control. And it's tough to just count on that for tomorrow. I'm just going to have to be really, really hard on myself tomorrow. Hopefully I do come out swinging like that. I know I'm going to hit plenty of good ones. But if I do get out of position a little bit more tomorrow, I'm going to have to scramble hard. But I think the game is there where I can do that. And I've made a fair share of putts of ten feet and in this week. So I feel like I can put myself in with a good shape. But I'm going to have to play a great round tomorrow.

Q. You mentioned before you probably would be able to creep along a little bit and maybe sneak under the radar, probably similar with the Masters. Do you feel that suits you more than being in the spotlight all week?
ADAM SCOTT: No, not necessarily. It's just the way it is. Tomorrow the spotlight is going to be on two guys, it looks like, at the moment. And that's great. But as soon as you do anything out there, you're in the spotlight, too. There aren't that many holes to go. I've always liked myself as a front runner, and my record is pretty good front running. If you look at overall tournaments, it's just the first time I led a Major I lost it. But I'd like to change that the next time I get a chance to lead a Major.

Q. I believe you said you got here last Tuesday and played something like nine rounds before the tournament proper. Is that a little bit earlier for you than normal in your preparation? At what point did you start to understand and maybe appreciate this golf course and play it the way you are right now?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think -- I've seen it change almost every day I've been here, including the three rounds I've played in the tournament. It is a little bit earlier than I got to Lytham, but I delayed that because the weather was so bad last year, if you remember. But I think you've just got to have a good understanding of it. And for me it means playing it and hitting enough shots and different kinds of shots in different winds. Maybe I don't visualize it as well as some other people can after just one or two practice rounds. But I thoroughly enjoy coming to a Major venue the week before when no one is here, and I get to play a beautiful golf course by myself pretty much. It's an enjoyable week for me and it's quite productive, as well. As far as appreciating it, you know, it doesn't take long once you play Muirfield in any conditions to appreciate the genius of the golf course. It's the best one on the Open rota.

Q. Do you remember when the first time was you started taking this approach to Major championships was?
ADAM SCOTT: Maybe it was before The Open in 2010, yeah.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Adam, thank you very much. Well played and best of luck tomorrow.

ADAM SCOTT: Thanks.

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