Adam Scott&aposs bid to win the triple crown of Australian golf is on hold this week, but it will be right at the forefront of his mind by the time he arrives in Sydney for the Emirates Australia Open early next week. The so-called triple crown does not include the World Cup, which is being played at Royal Melbourne this week. The expression, first coined when Robert Allenby performed the feat in 2005, refers to the more traditional big three Australian tournaments — the Australian Masters, the Australian PGA and the Australian Open, events that have been played for 30 years at the very least. The World Cup is a lucrative event, worth $8 million, but it will only be played here this year and only because of problems associated with its initial scheduling in China. The white hot Scott, already winner of the Australian PGA and the Talisker Masters this season from two starts, will be desperate to win the World Cup with Jason Day for Australian this week. But he admitted that he has half an eye to the Open at Royal Sydney next week, too. “Well, it (the triple crown) is looking good now,&apos&apos he said after Sunday&aposs triumph in the Masters. “I think it s a funny one because I m going to play an event in between and whatever happens doesn’t really matter. I hope that we re talking triple crown but, you know, it will certainly be on mind when I get to Sydney, that s for sure, and I think it s going to be a lot of fun for me to try and do that because I remember how big a deal it was for Robert when he did achieve that. “I think it was 2005 he did it, and it was fun for even me playing the events to watch if he was going to do it. So hopefully there s a lot of excitement when we go to Sydney about going to the three events and it would be nice to do it off the back of the World Cup as well.&apos&apos The 33-year-old Scott had never previously won the same tournament two years in a row, but he is collecting a wardrobe full of gold jackets. “Look, I m riding a wave of confidence on the golf course at the moment as anyone does when they re winning tournaments but also coming off the back of a great year and every time I walk out there I feel pumped because, you know, the people are excited to watch me play at the moment and I appreciate that a lot. So winning helps me keep going for another week because it s going to be Thursday or it&aposs Wednesday pro-am and back to business. “You know, two days off doesn’t feel like quite enough for me just at the moment but certainly this winning feel helps the mental state carry on.&apos&apos Allenby completed the triple crown in 2005 by winning the PGA at Coolum after taking the Masters at Huntingdale and the Open at Moonah Links. In this case, Scott gets to go for the big hat-trick in the nation&aposs most prestigious event, the Open, from next Thursday. He has previously won the Australia Open in 2009. But he will face stiff resistance from the likes of his World Cup teammate Day and former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy at Royal Sydney.
Author: Martin Blake / www.golf.org.au