Golfer Adam Scott On Upcoming PGA Event
[Written by Patrick Bean]
Australian golfing legend Adam Scott is well aware of Father Time’s diminishing effect on an athlete’s ability to defeat the rising tide of a powerful, young group of challengers hungry to duplicate his success on the PGA Tour.
Changed priorities and physical dynamics inherent with one’s maturation from care-free youngster to full-fledged adult, having more than self to consider are unavoidable in the lives of most and the former Masters winner accepts such as his current lot.
Yet, while the balancing act required to remain a force, even as familial responsibilities tug and look to blunt the competitive edge, the married father of three believes himself to be a prominent threat to win each time he steps to the opening tee.
“It’s just about balancing things the best you can in all areas, which isn’t easy,” said Scott during a player interview session following a Tuesday practice round at the exquisitely manicured Port Royal Golf Course, site of this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
“Because I really believe you can only be great at one thing.
“You can be good at lots of things, but only be great at one thing.
“I have my own family now and certainly other priorities to balance with the game, so that’s always a juggling act.”
Winning 14 times on the sport’s premier tour can also dull the desire to compete and put in the requisite work, however Scott assured that he still possesses a yearning to win at his sport’s highest level.
“At times motivation may be an issue, but the passion is still there,” added Scott, who previously won the now defunct Grand Slam of Golf, the predecessor to the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. “At times for sure I think the year-round schedule makes it harder and my life has changed, certainly from 10 years ago when I was here.”
Scott, who was ranked world number one from mid-May to August in 2014, despite the presence of Tiger Woods, enters the Bermuda event as the betting favourite to win, a status he views as an asset, rather than a burden.
In fact he believes that can provide positive impetus to his chances of coming out on top come Sunday evening when the sun sets over the island.
Having a green jacket already safely tucked away in the Champions locker room at Augusta National Golf Club, the Australian legend long ago learned how to harness the pressures of high expectation and formulate and apply such in ways that enhance his chances of achieving the mission.
“I think it’s a nice thing,” said Scott of his wearing the tag. “At many different times in my career I’ve come to events as the favourite or world number one, in good form and with expectations being high and that’s kind of what I like.
“It’s the environment I want to be in and if that’s the case this week I feel like I’m the best player here.
“I find pressure like that something you can feed off the expectations a little bit.”
The day saw Scott spend extended time out reacquainting himself with the course, one that has been softened by several days of rain. With the rain having now departed and with mostly clear skies predicted, he envisioned plenty of low scores when the competition begins in earnest.
He told of the characteristics of the course to be similar to those upon which he learned and honed his craft Down Under on the Gold Coast, all but salivating over his prospects.
“I’ve played a lot of this resort style golf as a kid growing up on the Gold Coast,” explained Scott, whose last PGA Tour event triumph came in 2020 at The Genisis Invitational, played at the Riviera Country Club in California. “I call this resort style golf, but the grass here is similar to that back home.
“I think it’s helpful around here if you strike the ball well. It’s hard scrambling a lot out of the rough and with the wind blowing I think that feels like home a bit as well, so I certainly enjoy playing in resort style tropical weather.
“It certainly feels like home to me.
“I will spend the next couple of days getting used to the condition of the golf course, the grass, the tee to the greens. There’s a lot of movement on the golf course and some subtleties on the greens which you really have to pay attention to.
“The greens are soft, so I think there’s going to be some really good scoring.
“I feel like I have played fairly solid all year and not gotten results and I’m not going to get results sitting home on the couch and I think it would be nice to get a good result here and get my PGA season going and try to improve my standing and got a position in a couple of the signature events.”
Asked if he was incentivized to get into the Next 10 that would place him in the 51 to 60 group, which would guarantee spots in the Genisis and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the 14-time PGA Tour winner responded in the affirmative.
“It would be nice to get into those two,” he said. “I would not ask for an invite, but I’m at a point in my life where I have to balance my schedule.
“Being a bit older I can’t chase everything, so if it would happen it’s good but if it doesn’t it doesn’t. I don’t expect to be given invites all over the place.
“Next year I’ll plan the best schedule I can and if I can get a couple of invites that’ll be great, but it’ll be much better to go out and win a tournament this week and get some of the results out of what I put into the game and the kind of changes that I’ve made this year and going to next year full of confidence.”
