Adam Scott interview, Wednesday 5 December 2012 Welcome. How do you feel going into the Open on Thursday? I&aposm looking forward to playing the Open. It is an important tournament for all Australians and I&aposd certainly like to repeat my form of 2009 and get my hands of the trophy again. I have had a couple of fairly quiet weeks since the Masters. Hopefully I have not lost too much of that form down there because it was certainly enjoyable playing like that. It is going to be a challenge here this week. It looks like it is going to be good weather but windy. That&aposs what makes this course the challenge. This has been a fantastic year for you. Yes. I played a lot of good golf this year which I am very happy about. A lot of stuff I have worked on has fallen into place on the course, maybe not quite as I had planned over four days consistently but there was so much good stuff there. I know I am on the right track. I just have to persevere with that. I think the results, much like the masters a couple of weeks ago, will follow. You ve kept us guessing on the putter in the last two days. What are you going to putt with? I don&apost know. I&aposll probably putt with the long putter. The other one I was messing around with was my first go and it is not quite what I want it to do. It is not quite set up right for me. I&aposll have another go at another time if I feel I need to. How did that come about? I ordered that putter a while back. I was experimenting for my own use. How long is it? It is just slightly longer than a short putter. I think it is 40 inches. Are you thinking of changing? I don&apost think so. Until I invent a better way to putt for myself, I&aposll stick to the broomstick. Inaudible question. Just playing around with a few things, a few different ideas. I certainly like a lot of the philosophies of putting with a broomstick. It is simple. I can move it slightly off my chest and use the same putter but I think there are better ways than that. We are all searching for the best possible way and I think there are still better ways for me to go about it. Question re anchoring against the body That is what the governing bodies have come out and said. It has been for the last 30 years but all of a sudden they&aposve changed their minds, for whatever reason. They don&apost like seeing kids putt with a belly putter. That&aposs what they say. It does not worry me. Everyone has their opinion about the game. My view on the whole thing is that if they are going to make decisions like that, then they are consistent with that philosophy throughout the whole game of golf and I won&apost have a problem. I think it is a very big call that they&aposve made and only time with tell if it is the right call for the game of golf. I would agree with it if they are consistent in their philosophy of bringing the game back to its traditions is set right throughout the game because a lot of others things are not in place either. What are those other things? I thing length is commonly acknowledged as the biggest problem in the game of golf. Not just how far pros hit it. How long courses are having to be built now. That certainly has a massive impact on the industry – cost, time, those sorts of things that are turning people away from the game. At the end of the day, that is certainly not what we want to do. Inaudible question Yes. I think I putt fine with any putter. I have spent the last two years learning a skill with the broomstick putter and that is what I am going to use this week, most likely. Whatever way I putt in the future, if I just move the hand off my chest an inch or a centimetre or whatever it is, I&aposll be making an honest stroke. It will look exactly the same. How do you think The Lakes is looking now the third year in a row for the Open and more time to mature? Certainly it matures as the grass and everything settles down the way a golf course does after it has been rebuilt. It is in perfect shape for this year. Like I said, the defence to this golf course is the wind. It needs wind, otherwise we are going to shoot really good scores. It is very difficult in the wind because the greens have so many undulations. It is hard to get it next to the hole. It either finishes next to the hole or a long way away with a very difficult putt. Inaudible question I believe you can&apost purposely anchor the putter against your body. Just move it off the chest. The putter doesn&apost but my hand does. Question re scheduling and workload I still practise. I think I manage my time better with what I do with everything, with the tournaments I play and preparing for them and practising. I work a little more efficiently. That suits me. It keeps me fresh, playing well, wanting to work hard, wanting to practise and competitive. Has your ball striking ever been better? Pretty much since June, the week after the US Open. The swing really started to fall into place, which Brad and I had been looking for over the last couple of years. It is just little things. In 2010 I hit the ball really well but I think it is a little better again now. I consistently hit the ball very well at the moment. Question re progress I think I am on the right track. My goal was to play well in the big events and I did that pretty much in all of them. I am going to use this year as motivation to go the next step next year. I don&apost see anything getting in my way at the moment. I feel very confident with the plans I am putting in place. Tom Watson said what spurred him to victory was the hate of losing in a Major. Can you sympathise with that? I can certainly relate to that. Everyone&aposs path to winning a first tournament or a major is different. Tiger came along and won them all right out of the gate and other guys have won the first time they&aposve had a chance, too. Then a guy like Phil Mickelson knocked on the door a lot of times and finally won one. Tom Watson let one slip and then probably won the next eight. For me, I&aposm just looking forward to getting back in that position as soon as I possibly can, hopefully in April, and certainly this weekend as well. For me at the Masters, it was great to close that tournament out when I was in a similar position. Do your intensity levels change around the Majors? I think it is different for different weeks, depending where you&aposre at. Your intensity has to raise to play the majors the way I want to play them. That was more reactive, coming off the back of the US Open. My start there really cost me the tournament. I played great the last three days. Getting off to a slow start cost me a real chance to be right there at the end. That focus, coming fresh off what happened at the US Open and it was a fairly effective mindset at the British Open, for sure. You just have to be so focused hitting off in those tournaments because the penalty of missing it in the wrong place or making a slight error is so huge. It is hard to recover because birdies just don&apost come so easily. At other events you are going to make five or six birdies in a round if you are playing good and dropping a shot or two early is not going to kill your week. But it can kill your week at a major because you see how hard the golf is all of a sudden. The confidence can go and birdies are hard to come by at a US Open or a PGA.
Author: Golf Australia