|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE INSURANCEMay 28, 2014Adam ScottDUBLIN, OHIO THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome worldÂ’s No. 1, Adam Scott. Congratulations on your victory last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, and welcome back to Muirfield. We'll turn it over to you for some opening comments on being back here. ADAM SCOTT: It's obviously great to be back here. It's a course I like very much, and it doesn't feel like it was that long ago we were here for the Presidents Cup. Time really flies. So I feel like this course sets up well for me and I'm playing well. I'm going to try and keep the momentum going after last week. Q. Not that you had to prove yourself as No. 1, but did there have to be satisfaction going into the week and winning when you turned No. 1, could you just talk about that, what that did for you? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think you're right. It's satisfying, absolutely. But I think all the things I did leading up certainly helped put me in the right mindset to play well last week, and took a couple days for it to show up really on the weekend. But that's when it counts. So it was very satisfying to win at that golf course for a lot of reasons, I think, and achieve some little goals other than just winning in general and trying to win all the events in Texas. And I think getting to No. 1 was such a journey and so much work went into it, I wasn't going to settle for just staying there for a week. Q. The last time you played this course, the Presidents Cup, was entirely different conditions. I'm just wondering, can you take anything at all from that other than just course knowledge of where to be, where not to be, things like that, from other times you've been here as well? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, the weather was extremely unfortunate at the Presidents Cup. But also this tournament has a really unlucky record with the weather. So it's nice at the moment. It's a little bit firm. The greens are firmer than we've seen for a while. So it will be nice if it stays this way. Hopefully we can dodge any weather that's coming this week. It will be good to see this course play a little fiery, because it certainly is extremely demanding when it does. The greens are quite a tough‑‑ well, they're really the defense of this golf course. So it will be fun and challenging to have it in good shape for the week. Q. I know you were being focused on obviously winning the tournament last Sunday, but before you teed off Henrik had finished and everyone was aware you needed a top 13, were you aware before you started what you needed to do to stay No. 1? ADAM SCOTT: No, I didn't really know. I knew Henrik was up about the top 10, but I didn't really know what that had me to do. Starting two back I was more thinking about winning the tournament than trying just to get a top 10. Q. You mentioned the things that were satisfying, the little things, the Texas slam, but was one of those winning on I guess a different type of course than you might have won on before? It wasn't one where you overpowered or you‑‑ you know, you were able to place the ball around a bit better? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I think so. You've got to try and develop a game that can be competitive on any golf course. And I think I've won on a variety of different golf courses. It's just like going to the Open and playing well. It's satisfying. So I really like that golf course last week, and to win there is special. It's got a lot of history with the TOUR and the names that have won there, and it's nice to be on that list. Q. Want to just ask you about Pinehurst. I want to say you were two or three shots back going into the lead last time. They had the U.S. Open there, different golf courses obviously with the changes. But just maybe your plan for seeing it. Have you been there? Plan to go back, when do you plan to go there? And, secondly, just how different you feel as a player maybe going into it this year, compared to back in'05? ADAM SCOTT: I haven't seen it. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm going to next week to have a couple days there and try and learn the course the best I can. And as far as being a different player, of course I am a different player. I'm a lot older and experienced, and I'm playing well. But I was also playing well when I went in there last time as well. I think I might have been sixth or fifth in the world at the time and was on that ride up as a kid. So it was‑‑ I think I generally played okay there that week and maybe didn't finish the best on Sunday. But it's a U.S. Open. It's a demanding golf course. It's got its own unique challenges. It's a different set of greens than we see at most U.S. Opens. So it's definitely going to be a lot of thought after my couple of days there in how I'm going to get it around and work around the greens, I think, is going to be the big thing. Q. For those of us not familiar with your little putting technique, can you explain that, what that's doing with your hands up that you're getting a lot of mileage out of?  I know there was a photo with you kind of doing the plumb bob thing. When did that begin? What were you trying to achieve with that? ADAM SCOTT: How long have you got? I'll give you the long answer. It's complex. But it's called express reading. And it's not really a secret, but it's based off AimPoint technology and it's a quicker way of finding a read than using all the charts and all the info that AimPoint gives, but it's the same result. And it's the way I got‑‑ I got taught this by the guy who developed it and my coach, and I believe it's the way to read a green. So I've been doing it since The Honda Classic. And my putting's been very good. My putting starts to look good this year, maybe the best I've ever been. So so far it's positive. Q. I know it's only been a short time, but how do you plan to maintain that drive and competitive edge to stay number one? ADAM SCOTT: I haven't really thought about it, other than, like I said in an earlier answer, that it was quite a process to get there. When you're a kid dreaming of being No. 1 and you're out on TOUR when you're 19, 20, you think you're going to roll into it, and it's not really the case all the time. It does happen for some. But it wasn't the case for me. And a lot's gone into it. And I felt I was No. 1 by such a small margin last week, it was motivation just to stay there for another week. So at the moment I think I'll have to take it week by week and run with that, because it worked last week. But obviously I think it's going to take continued hard work and determination to stay there, and we'll see how that goes. But it certainly was a fun experience last week to be No. 1, and then obviously to win the tournament will make it a pretty sweet memory for my career. Q. Just curious when you start thinking about the U.S. Open, when you kind of at least had one eye on it, at what point. ADAM SCOTT: When do I think about it? Q. At what point did you start kind of having one eye toward it, if you will? ADAM SCOTT: I think after THE PLAYERS, you have to kind of take stock of where things are at. And I kind of plan things carefully and schedule things to make sure I'm doing all the right things, and I felt adding Colonial last week was an important part of my lead up to the U.S. Open. Q. What about the Masters, when do you start thinking about that? ADAM SCOTT: The start of the year. Q. I guess my point is, by the time you get to the Open, especially when you get to the PGA and it's like two weeks later. ADAM SCOTT: Don't have a lot of time to plan for those ones. Q. What's the difference? Makes me wonder if sometimes you don't, not you specific, but players don't overanalyze or, if when they get to the summer of the Open and the PGA, it's just all instinct? Didn't mean to make you think that hard. ADAM SCOTT: You're testing me. I think there's an overall plan. And somewhere they all fit in there so that you're going to show up to play your best golf. But it has to be flexible, because my plan wasn't to play Colonial originally, but I felt I needed to get back out on the golf course. So I put it in and felt the three, Colonial and Memorial, week off into the U.S. Open, was going to be a nice run, would have me playing nicely for the U.S. Open and being competitive and all these things. So it wasn't in the plan at the start, but it's flexible and it changes. And I'll go through the U.S. Open and then see where I'm at and adjust for the Open. Now you don't have a lot of time to make big adjustments. But hopefully in the big plan, the long‑term plan it's all kind of in the right spot and you don't need to make a big adjustment around the Open or the PGA, when there's little time to change much in a golf swing or add tournaments to find a rhythm on the golf course or whatever it is you might be. You're hoping by six or seven months in things that have fallen into place for the year otherwise you might have been doing the wrong stuff. Q. What's your plan going after the U.S.? ADAM SCOTT: I'm off until the Open. Q. Wondering what the response from the other players has been since you took over No. 1, and do you at all feel like there's a target on your back, like you're the guy they're chasing? ADAM SCOTT: There's only been very nice from everyone. And it seems‑‑ I think we all have a high level of respect for each other in what we do. And everyone, obviously, wants to achieve all these things. And no matter who it is, whoever gets there earned it. You can't get there without having played well for a long period of time. And we all know that's difficult to do as players. And I think through that the respect is shown. So I'm appreciative of all their support and congratulations that I've received. I don't know. I haven't felt like there's a target on my back, but I guess the guys who are close at the moment probably see one and they want to get there as well. So I'll enjoy it for now. But I know I'm going to have to continue to play well. And I feel like a lot's gone into getting me there, and I couldn't think just as much is going to have to go into keeping me there and that's no guarantee either. Q. I think memory serves me correct, you claim your best‑ever round in tournament golf was in this tournament, is that correct? Can you talk about that a little bit? ADAM SCOTT: Yes, I think one of the best rounds I've ever played was here in 2006. On Friday's round I shot 62 and left a few out there. I really thought I could have got to that magic number. But it was the low round by quite a few that day. It was a hard setup, and I just played really superb golf. So it's easy for me to remember that round. And I've had a few that compared; but I think I just felt like how difficult this golf course was set up, that was maybe the best round of golf I've played. So I've got memories of playing this golf course, but I just haven't managed to put four good days together here. I've had threes and twos, but it would be nice to come out and put four good days together here because it's obviously a tournament out here everyone would like to win. Q. Some guys over the years haven't embraced the being No. 1 and the demands and the trappings that go with it. I just want to get your take on how you're embracing it or plan to. ADAM SCOTT: It's kind of a week‑by‑week thing because there's no guarantee that I will be next week either. I don't think. So I'm just kind of going with the flow and just trying to play as well as I can. I just had a random lunch with Luke Donald, and he made a comment something like "It feels pretty good up there," or something like that. And for sure it does. And I think the feeling for me is I'm motivated to work hard to try and stay there for a little bit. And that's all I can say. I think I generally do a good job with any other demands on my time and I learned a lot after winning the Masters because obviously that changed the most significant amount after that. And this has been a little easier to handle for sure. So hopefully it's a problem I have to keep dealing with, but we'll take it week by week. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|