Adam Scott arrived in Gullane on Scotland&aposs east coast a week early to prepare for the championship he says he&aposs been looking forward to most this year. “After what happened at Lytham, I was eager to get back and try and get into another position to hopefully win the Claret Jug. It&aposs been a great year. Obviously putting Lytham behind me and going on to win the Masters this year, has been a bit of a fairytale, and if I were to get in contention this week, that would just continue,” Scott said on Wednesday. Scott revealed Tom Watson waited until they were almost halfway through a practice round to bring up the Lytham disaster when the pair played together at The Lakes before last year&aposs Emirates Australian Open in Sydney. “He waited seven holes to bring up what happened at the Open. He asked me, and I told him what I thought. And he said that he let one slip early in his career, and he said he would never let that happen again. He would just be tough and want it so badly. And sometimes maybe that has to happen for you to realise that,” Scott said. “Obviously words coming from him I took to heart. It was a completely different situation at Augusta. But I felt like I played tough, especially in the playoff, because no one&aposs going to give you a Major.” The Queeslander turned 33 on Tuesday and has spent time practising at the nearby Nations Club and Renaissance Club when not at Muirfield. “I got up here last Tuesday evening, and I spent the week playing out here, which was really enjoyable, obviously we had weather like this every day. And I just watched the course firm up throughout the week, and tried to get my game to adjust to these conditions,” Scott said. “So I had a really relaxed and enjoyable week learning Muirfield last week. Yes, I played Renaissance just to get away for a day. It&aposs busy out there and I&aposve seen the course a lot.” The World Number 4 will be making just his tenth start for the season at Muirfield this week and Scott&aposs playing schedule is now decided heavily on what will generate the best chances of success at the Majors. “It was simply all around the Majors, because I had poor results in them. So what I have been doing for the first ten years of my career didn&apost work, and it took me that long to figure it out. I needed to do something different. And I just put everything else aside and said I&aposm just going to focus on big events, and do what I need to do to hopefully play the best I can at every one, especially for The Open Championship,” Scott said. The Masters champion is also adamant there is ongoing benefit for him in not playing week in, week out. “Coming early for me and playing a lot on the course that we&aposre going to play and learning it has been important for me. I want to feel comfortable when I&aposm on every tee throughout the week in any condition. And the more I play the course, I think, the more I&aposll feel that way,” Scott said. “And the other part of that is I&aposm enjoying practicing more because I believe also for me that for my swing and my short game and my putting to hold up to four days of Major pressure, I need to put in more time practicing than playing tournaments.” Scott has been paired with American World Number 6 Matt Kuchar and England&aposs World Number 9 Luke Donald in the opening two rounds as he seeks revenge for his final four holes of last year&aposs championship. “I think it&aposs all the good advice and guidance that I&aposve been given on how to handle playing a professional sport or handle just being a person and having a decent perspective on all that. And somehow that turned into me taking Lytham as a positive, and just pushing me harder to try to get across the line to win a Major,” Scott added.
Author: Golf Australia