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An Interview With ADAM SCOTT, the 2003 Deutsche Bank Champion 69-62-67-66--264 (-20)$900,000  |  |  |  |  |  photo courtesy of Brandon Barrett/ReplaySports ©
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JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Congratulations, Adam. You've been working on this for a long time here in the United States, and I know you're pretty proud of it and probably a lot of emotions going on right now. Why don't you just share those emotions with us, and then we'll go into some questions. ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's kind of relief, for one. Although, it's very difficult to win in America. I feel that, being not just a foreigner, but being a young player, there's a lot of pressure out there on this tour. And there are only a few young players who have done very well in the past, and one is probably Sergio and the other is Tiger, really young guys, winning over here a lot. It's difficult to do.
So, yeah, I'm relieved, but I'm pretty proud of the way I played today. I played very well and was very solid out there. Q. Did you plan to attack like you did today? ADAM SCOTT: No, I said yesterday it was kind of conservative/aggressive out there, and that's what I did. I felt I had to make birdies out there, with good scores again from the guys who were just behind me. So if I shot par, I would not have won. I felt I had to make birdies. And birdieing 2, I got a great break there looking back on it. Missed it a little right with my second shot and jumped left and stayed out of the hazard and that was a huge break. And then from there, you know, I played the next five holes really well. Q. Did you notice Rocco making a charge? ADAM SCOTT: When I bogeyed the 11th today, I asked my caddie, how do we stand, because I had not seen a leaderboard at all. He said Rocco was at 15 (under), and I felt like that was a little bit of a shock. I felt like I was way out in front, but I was only like three in front. I felt like it was time to knuckle down and really bury it. Q. Rocco missed a short birdie putt on 14 and a few seconds later, you got up and down on 13 to save par. Were you even aware of that? ADAM SCOTT: No idea. Wasn't playing any attention to the leaderboard at that point. I had my work cut out trying to get the ball in the hole and not worrying about other people. My putting was unbelievable on the back nine, some of the putts I made. Surprised myself. Q. How far did you have on the putt on 13? ADAM SCOTT: It's got to be at least 12 feet. Q. (Inaudible.) ADAM SCOTT: Once. Q. You've obviously done well with the lead, what is it about some people having great success from front and others don't? ADAM SCOTT: I don't know. I think I've put myself in this position six times, so it's pretty solid. The second time I was in the lead after 54, I didn't win. That was the English Open 2001, and I had won once already. And when I didn't win, I said, "All right, I'm never letting that happen again." It's worked so far. Q. What is it about this style of play, is it a matter of having a presence of holing the key putts? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, obviously, you can't win if you don't putt well, especially coming down the stretch. But for whatever reason, every week I've won, I felt my putting has been very good and my game has been in really great shape. Everything feels quite easy and just flows out there. I just kind of get my way around the course and seem to not get into too much trouble, hitting in hazards and making doubles and making it even more difficult than it already is. Q. That being said, what surprised you about your putting on the back; that you made them? ADAM SCOTT: Well, I didn't play the back nine particularly well from tee to green. I missed a few fairways and missed a few greens because of that and I left myself some 40 footers, 50 footers, 60 footers and I didn't really knock them stone dead. I left them four feet, six feet and those were the ones that surprised me, knocking them all in. Didn't give anything up to the rest of the guys coming at me out there. Q. Can you talk about your putting problems over the years, is the root of your ability to ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, my putting has been quite poor for the first half of this year and it puts so much pressure on the rest of your game when you putt poorly. Even playing well, I felt like I was playing poorly because I felt like I had to hit every green or I'm not going to make any birdies or pars even. 3 putting five times around, it was ridiculous. I really hit a low point at the Open this year at St. George's. And the next week, I took the next week off and went home and all I did was putt and chip for the week. I didn't hit any balls and I just spent hours putting and chipping, and that really turned it around. Q. This may be what you mean by conservative/aggressive, but it looked at some point that you determined, "I'm not going to do anything silly, I'm going to take care of this, "and then it's almost as if Rocco coming behind you, kicked you into another gear; would that be accurate? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I felt pretty comfortable coming through the turn. I was playing quite safe and leaving myself 20, 25 feet just in middle of the greens. I felt that was the best way to go. Like I said, when I bogeyed 11 and found out Rocco was 15, I had a three shot lead, I felt like, let's get a bit more focused and picked my way around the last few holes and stayed out of trouble. Q. Where's home? Where do you have home? ADAM SCOTT: Well, I have a home in Australia, but I live pretty much in London most of the time. Q. Do you live on a course? ADAM SCOTT: Golf course, no. I just live in town there. Q. Where do you chip and putt? ADAM SCOTT: A golf course, Queenwood, it's a new golf course. A few of the guys on tour are members there. Q. Inaudible? ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, a little bit. Obviously, I know I can win over here, but that should not be taken for granted, either. I think I've played exceptionally well this week and I made the most of it. As I said earlier in the week, I think I still have a lot to prove in Europe and I feel like I have a lot to achieve over there still. I'm far from done with Europe and I'm only just starting over here. So I've got plenty of stuff I want to achieve from here. Q. (Inaudible.) ADAM SCOTT: I'm not really keen on jumping back and forth all the time, but fortunately the majors and the World Golf Championships count for the European Tour, as well as here. So that way you can make the numbers up quite easily if you play a few around the majors, a few around the World Golf Championships. Q. Where does this victory rank? ADAM SCOTT: Obviously, this is very special, to win in America. I think winning for the first time as a professional is always going to be my most memorable win, but this probably beats all the others. It's quite amazing playing golf over here, the environment. It's like nowhere else in the world, especially coming from Australia. I think it's a big difference to how we play golf down there. Q. Can you talk about the crowds? ADAM SCOTT: I guess everyone seemed to be pretty much behind me and cheering me on, which is nice. Obviously it's got to be pretty difficult if they are rooting for someone else. But I really try not to pay too much attention, other than just hearing a lot of noise to the crowds because I'm trying to go about my business and get it done. It really is difficult not to be distracted because some of it is quite funny. Some of the stuff they yell out is quite funny. I get a lot of "go Justins," "go Aarons," stuff like that, but hopefully today they know. Q. How could they mistake you for Aaron? ADAM SCOTT: I don't know. I don't know that my trousers are pink or anything. (Laughing) I don't know. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Adam, could you go through your birdies and bogeys? ADAM SCOTT: I hit a driver and 6 iron on the second, pin high right and chipped up to about four feet. The third, I hit a 6 iron in there to about five feet. Next was a driver and a 9 iron from the left rough and that was probably 25 feet there. 9, I hit driver, 3 wood on the front just on the front right of the green and chipped up. That was probably 12 feet. 11, I hit a 5 iron and chipped onto 10 feet and 2 putted. 15 was a driver, sand wedge, put six feet. Birdie on 18 was driver, 4 iron just on the fringe and I chipped down the hill to six feet or something. Q. You said you still have stuff to prove on Europe, can you elaborate on what exactly you have left to do there? ADAM SCOTT: Since being over there, and obviously playing there for a few years, it seems every clubhouse we go on to on the Tour there, Greg's name is on the not the leaderboard, the Champions List. You know, that's something that really inspired me when I went over there. I kept going to these courses and there's Greg's name on this one and there's Greg's name on that one. And I thought, I'd kind of like to really set that same presence over there that Greg Norman did and have a lot of wins. Winning the Order of Merit would be great, as well, over there. And just I'm not sure if Greg ever won the Order of Merit, but just to be the top golfer in Europe for the year. It is my home tour and that's obviously what I want to achieve. Q. I appreciate that being your home tour, but I wonder if you feel like you are good enough to win the Money List over here, and if Greg eventually didn't make a name for himself more what he did on this tour than he did in Europe? ADAM SCOTT: Sure, he did. I definitely think he did make a big name for himself over here. What I'm trying to say is I'm trying to follow a similar kind of path as Greg Norman. He was the best in Europe. He came over to best Seve and those guys pretty good. He same over here and then became the best over here. I think I've still got some stuff to learn in Europe. I can develop my game over there, but I the timing is starting to become right to play here a little more. I think I've got a lot to learn from over here, as well. Q. Do you know what you could learn over there that you could not learn over here? ADAM SCOTT: I think the conditions are so adverse over there. We are playing in some unbelievable conditions over there. I think that really toughens you up, and if you can handle that, you can handle anything. And I definitely drew on experiences from Europe out there on the course today. It's raining, no big deal. That's normal. Stuff like that, it makes you a harder player and if you can grow into that in horrific conditions that you are not meant to be playing golf in, I think things seem quite nice over here and you are tough enough to deal with anything. Q. Of the young players that seem to have most of the success, yourself, Sergio, Aaron to some extent, Justin to some extent, most of them are coming from international, do you think that has something to do with it; that they are not pampered every week and I don't mean that as a negative, but the fact that they are dealing with... ADAM SCOTT: Possibly, a little bit. That's possible. What you have over here is unbelievable and I think it can be taken for granted, and you really, really have to earn what you get over here. I think this is where Butch Harmon, Greg Norman, Tom Crow were such big influences on me, saying, "Adam, forget about America," when I first turned pro, "let's go to Europe and get some good grounding over there." That makes me appreciate a lot more what is over here and just how good it is. Q. Tom who is that? ADAM SCOTT: He was the founder of Cobra golf. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Adam, and congratulations again. # # # An Interview With ROCCO MEDIATE, runner-up 67-70-66-65 -- 268 (-16) $540,000.00 ROCCO MEDIATE: Everybody says, "your World Ranking has dropped," and this and that. It has dropped. I haven't played, and the few I did play, I finished like 40th, and I spent all of my time with my boys and my wife. Like I've been saying, it's kind of a neat quote, my World Ranking has dropped, but my ranking with my children and my wife, I'm No. 1. I can get the other world ranking up higher if I do more of that. And they haven't even asked me a question. I'm just talking, so go ahead. I blamed my caddie for my bad play the last couple of months. Because I told him, I said, "Pete, it's your job to get me in contention.: I'm just giving him a bunch of crap because when I get in contention, I like it. I feel very comfortable. Like yesterday, I started to play good coming in and today I felt comfortable all day. I said, "You just have to get me there more." So I blamed it on him.
Q. Does this give you confidence that you get into The TOUR Championship? ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah, I've got at least five more. I've got Atlanta, Vegas, Greensboro, Disney and Tampa. So I've got five left. If I can't do it in five tournaments, I shouldn't be there and I've got my shot. This really helped, by the way. I don't know what the money is here but I moved up. Q. (Inaudible.) ROCCO MEDIATE: I just took a bunch of time off. I didn't really take it in a row. Played a few, went home and came back. It doesn't really work that well for me. Q. Can you talk about the crowds? ROCCO MEDIATE: The crowds were nuts. I enjoy that. I enjoy the loud. The only thing I don't enjoy is when you're walking down the ropes and they are right besides and you they go: "Hey, Rocco!" I can't hear the next half hour. That's the only bad thing. They were great. They were fun. There was really nothing bad happening and I think the golf course held them pretty good. Q. Are you disappointed with your finish? ROCCO MEDIATE: No. If I had shot 62 and finished second, yeah. I shot I made one little blip on 14. I hit just the prettiest 6 iron I could hit. I just got two it's straight downhill and the greens were, just started to rain a little bit and I just didn't, I got into the line too much and I didn't hit it. It's real simple. I wasn't like nervous. I hit it right where I was looking, but I didn't put any speed on it. Q. How far? ROCCO MEDIATE: Seven, eight feet. Straight downhill, left to right. I just didn't hit it. Q. If you made that putt ROCCO MEDIATE: You never know. You're talking about one of the best players in the world, Adam. He's not afraid of anything. If I had made that, who knows what I would have done coming in. See, I would like at it that way. Who knows what I would have done coming in? I don't look at it like, "what if." I just didn't do what I was supposed to do there. 6 , 8 footers are not gimmees, but when you're putting good, they feel like they are. Most important putt all day was the last one because I really wanted... Justin played great, but I really wanted... I knew he was going to make that 10 footer for birdie. I needed to... I really wanted to make that one. I played so good, I wanted to be second by myself, if that means anything, because I couldn't win unless something weird happened and he's not going anywhere.
Q. How far was it? ROCCO MEDIATE: Probably five feet, a little left to right. Thinking about the putt I left short on 14, I'm like, this ain't happening right here. I hit a good putt on,... I almost birdied 17 and I almost birdied 14. I hit the hole both times. It was close. I was right there and if those putts go in, still probably would have lost, but it would have been cool. Q. Can you talk about the whole package here, the crowds, the course, amenities ? ROCCO MEDIATE: The course took some criticism. It's different. Some of the green sides are a little interesting, I guess is a good word. But as you saw this week, they held up. When I first got here, I'm like, "Oh, my God." You can't even play the 14th hole, 500 yards downhill, the green slopes away. But all of the sudden, when the tournament starts, you're hitting 7 and 8 irons in there, no big deal. But with 2 or 3 irons back in the old days, you can't play that hole. You can't hold the ball on the green. So I think the golf course surprised the guys who stayed. A lot of guys left, I guess, on Thursday. I think it surprised everybody. I was pleasantly surprised. Q. There's some talk about this tournament moving to California. ROCCO MEDIATE: We heard that. Is that true or false? Q. Has not been decided. Would you like to see it stay here? ROCCO MEDIATE: We need a tournament up here somewhere, and it's here, it needs to be here then. It's one of our golf courses, so why not have it here? We need a tournament in the Boston area. There's too many good golf courses here not to have an event. I think the guys who , now that we've seen it, are going to change their tune a little bit. I know I have. Q. You must like playing inaudible? ROCCO MEDIATE: I got up this morning and I think good things have happened to me here. A good thing did happen to me today. I can't.... yeah, I might have made that one on 14, but you know it doesn't mean I'm going to birdie in and win the tournament. That doesn't mean that's going to happen. Today was as good as I can do for how I was doing recently. To be in that heat again, I just love that. I just wish I could get there more often. Q. Did it take a long time inaudible? ROCCO MEDIATE: No, I kind of had a mental breakdown when I went to the short putter for a while. I just said, "I'm going to try it." I went nuts, something happened. I putted good with it for about three weeks and then it was just nothing. Q. This is the best you've putted all year? ROCCO MEDIATE: This is the best I've putted for a couple years, trust me. I just did one thing last week when I was at Firestone. I just moved my right arm further down the shaft, almost on to the steel, and that engaged my body again. I was too much it was awful. I was speaking with Rick Smith about it last week and I said, "Check this out." He goes, "Say, that's something." The body is moving' that's what you're supposed to do. I got away from it and it was crap when I went back to it. I never thought about switching but now, I really putted good every day here. I made a lot of good putts here and I'm looking forward to Pennsylvania. That's my next one. Q. How far down? ROCCO MEDIATE: I'd have to show you but it's pretty much it's not straight. I was up here. I had too much angle and went down that way. All of a sudden, speed came back. I left one putt short this week and that was on 14. That's the only one. Everything else had speed. So I can't complain. Q. This could be the first of many victories for Adam. ROCCO MEDIATE: Absolutely. Oh, my God, yeah. He's as good as you can get, really. He hasn't even tapped what is he, 24? Justin is 23? We've got our hands full. I look at it this way, I'm 40, so I try to push, push, push and get better and hang with them as long as I can. The length is a big thing now. That's a big advantage. Some of the clubs they were hitting into par 5s yesterday, I'm going, "Well, I can't do that." But I can still make birdies the other way. But when you're hitting 7 irons instead of 3 irons or 5 woods you've got kind of an advantage. Those guys, it's survival of the fittest. That's okay. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Rocco, can we go through your birdies and bogeys, please? ROCCO MEDIATE: I hit it just over the green on 2 with a 3 iron. Pitched it down to a foot. That was like 20 feet from the hole on the right. I hit it into the hazard on 4. Only fairway I missed today. Just blocked it a yard and took a bounce and went where it should have went. Then hit it on the green and 2 putted. 7, I hit it over the green, my third shot, easiest chip I pitched it right in. Made birdie and that kind of got me started. Then I hit it to 15 feet on 8 and made it. 20 feet on 9 and made it. 12 feet on 10 and made it. I'm like, here we go again. Q. How far was the chip ? ROCCO MEDIATE: 20 feet. But the biggest putt besides 18 was the next putt, 11. Hit a so so 4 iron about 30 feet left of the hole and left the first putt eight feet short... I left two putts short today, I apologize. And I made that one. That was huge. Then I birdied I hit a little cut 5 iron into 12. I had a 12 footer down the hill and made that. Then I hit a 5 wood, I don't know how that ball didn't cut. It was over the bunker, flopped it over about eight feet and made that. Going into 16, it's such an intense hole. I shot it right at the flag and missed it about 20 feet left of the hole on the fringe. I wasn't even going to lay it to the right. I was just going to try to knock it in my caddy just said, "Get it a little right of the hole," and I'm like, okay. I almost hit a good shot. Almost chipped it in. Thought I was going to chip it in. Anyway,.... no. I sent him home Sunday. I'll see him tonight. All in all, I certainly can't complain this week. It's been awhile. Q. (Inaudible.) ROCCO MEDIATE: No. They have got school tomorrow. They were out for two weeks I've been home six weeks and they have been out three of them, so I haven't missed them that much yet. School starts tomorrow and they are not happy and neither would I. # # # An interview with TIGER WOODS 70-69-67-67 � 273 (-11) Finished in a tie for 7th, $161,250.00
Q: Did you think you had a chance? WOODS: Yes. I needed to shoot a great round but I also needed some help from Adam. He needed to come back a little bit but today was one of those days when I turned a nice 62 or 63 into a nice 67. Made a double and bogey and I missed a few putts I needed to make. Q: Talk about being here in Boston area for tournament? WOODS: It has been great. Obviously, I have been here as an Amateur and as a professional on the Ryder Cup. They love sports period. It is great for them to show up and support golf like this. We certainly need it for our foundation for them to show up like this and support the tournament. Actually it is tremendous for all the kids they are going to help because of it. Q: How do you approach the final round? Go for birdies to put yourself in it? WOODS: I needed to shoot four, five, six-under on the front side and do the same on the back side. I also needed some help form Adam. Even if I shot 62 today he could have gone out and played a normal solid round and still win pretty easily. I needed to take care of my end and I did not do that. Q: You see Adam and Justin at the top of the leaderboard do you think this is a young mans game? Maybe you are too old for it. WOODS: You can say that but look at this year - Craig Stadler winning. Peter Jacobsen and Jay Haas playing as well as they have. The game is very diverse and it is healthier than it has ever been because it is deeper than it has ever been. Because of that I think the game is only going to continue to be enhanced because of it. Q: Will we see you again before the WGC-American Express Championship? WOODS: No. I am done. Q: Had to be happy going out with two birdies? WOODS: I had a chance for birdie at No. 16. I just hit a terrible putt. It is nice to end up that way because obviously I started out great. I just did not quite continue it through the middle of the round. I really needed to make some birdies, but I went the other way. Re: Adam Scott? WOODS: If you follow world golf Adam has won around the world. He has a tremendous amount of talent. It was just a matter of time before he won on our TOUR. He was looking to maybe possibly play on our TOUR full time next year and I think he will do that. Q: Have you had a great year this year the way you look at it? WOODS: I have won four times. I have had a great year. From the standpoint I came out after knee surgery at the beginning of the year. I did not know what was going to happen. Came out and won three of the first four and have won one more since. It has been a pretty solid year all in all. It was disappointing I did not win a Major Championship, but overall I played very solid. I have got a chance at Player of the Year, stroke average and money list and lot of different things that are up for grabs. Q: Went to Fenway the other night? WOODS: Yes had a great time second time I have been to Fenway. First time had great seats behind homeplate there and the Rocket was pitching. It was awesome to watch. It was great game again the other night. Q: Looking forward to coming back? WOODS: I am I am looking forward to it yes. -END- |
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