MODERATOR:  It’s a pleasure to welcome Adam Scott, the 2013 Australian PGA champion. 

Adam, what’s it like being back to Royal Pines?

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah, it’s looking good out there this morning, in very nice condition for us this week.  I think now the greens have really settled in since the changes over the last five or six years.  It was nice to see them receiving shots so well, but generally the course is in great shape.  It’s a lot to play for this week.  My goal is to kind of bring a similar kind of focus that I had going last week to the golf course and try and get my name on that trophy again.

MODERATOR:  Obviously you’ve been involved in some significant tournaments as of late.  How are you feeling coming into this week?

ADAM SCOTT:  Feeling good.  I started playing really nicely last week in Melbourne, so whenever you get those good feelings, it’s always nice to have an event to play in.  You know, I would like to kind of make the most of that this week.  Things were really starting to fall into a good spot down there, so see if I can carry it over here and put some good rounds in.

Q.  You typically wouldn’t play the week after a major or another big event.  Is it a little bit of a challenge to try and get yourself up and about to play this week?

ADAM SCOTT:  Not really.  I mean, I kind of knew I was going to be doing it so I prepared myself for it.  And like I said, what I am excited about is I like where my golf game is at leaving Melbourne.  If I can bring some of that out here this week, then I think I’ll have a good chance of getting myself in for a chance to win, and that sounds fun to me because I would like to try and take some good momentum into next year.

Q.  Speaking of the trophy, Cameron Smith has a bit of a stranglehold over it.  I know you guys had a bit of banter back and forth.  Can you tell me about that?

ADAM SCOTT:  Well, you know, obviously Cam’s had a good run here, but that’s got to come to an end at some point and I’m sure it’s not just me who wants to take the Aussie Open, there’s probably a hundred‑plus other guys who would like to do it this week.  But I’m certainly feeling good after last week.  And the fact that I haven’t won a trophy for too long, I definitely would like to change that right here.

Q.  As you say, you haven’t won I think for three years or so, but when you look at this year, I think you’ve had a fairly significant improvement in the world rankings.  It has been a very consistent year in terms of performances.  How would you describe your year?

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah, it was a very consistent year.  Of course there are a couple weeks here or there where I didn’t play my best, but generally I played at a very high standard.  There were a couple of very close calls on the PGA TOUR where I got beat by a shot and most other years I’m sure I would have had a (inaudible) score to win, but the standard is tough out there.  The guys are playing at an incredibly high level, so it’s been good to see that I can kind of keep my game up at that level the way I want. 

However, consistency is not yielding wins and I think even the guys at the top can attest to that.  You kind of have to go out and play flat out and make sure it’s your week where it all falls into place.  I think the game’s changed a little bit and consistency used to be rewarded, but less so these days. 

Q.  Adam, we all saw how much last week meant to you.  Sunday on the stage you took it a bit hard.  You’ve spoken about how important it was for you to experience the Presidents Cup.  Can you take us through how you rationalise that, what happened on the Sunday afterwards and how you picked yourself up again and how devastating it was on a personal level?

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah.  I was sure waking up Sunday morning that was not going to be the result.  I thought everything we had done all week was correct and there wasn’t anything unusual about what we had done for Sunday, so I’m surprised. 

I don’t know how every match went, but it just felt like we got off to a slow start in most matches.  There wasn’t a lot of guys up early and that kind of cost us in the long run.  The guys who were up seemed to tie. 

But, you know, it’s so disappointing because the guys had done an incredible job to get in that position we were in.  I don’t think anyone would have given us a chance of getting a 10‑8 lead at the start of the week if you look at the teams on paper.

But once that American train gets running, it’s strong.  It’s got a lot of depth and if I’m rationalising it, maybe that’s where we came up a little bit short on Sunday.  We just didn’t quite have the depth to match them.  They just played to their potential on Sunday.  I don’t know.  I’m not sure exactly what we could have done different.  When you lose, you can pick on anything, but I think we’re all a bit surprised that we couldn’t get it done. 

So on a positive note, you know, I think there was a lot of good come out of it for our team and how we should structure ourselves moving forward, so I’ll look forward to hopefully having another chance in a few years and try and get it over the line this time.

Q.  Adam, we rarely see you struggle like you did in the first round of the Aussie Open.  What’s changed in the past two weeks?  What have you found?  What have you worked on that’s got you feeling so good about your game?

ADAM SCOTT:  I just pulled three or four drives on that front nine at the Aussie Open and made bogeys, and kind of in tricky conditions, was not easy to get shots back, so that ended up costing me.  I mean, I played quite nicely Friday there and then it just got better and better.

You know, just slightly out of sorts off the tee there that front nine was all that was, so I just kind of fixed that up on Friday morning and since then I’ve played quite nicely.

Q.  Is there an adjustment going from obviously the Royal Melbourne experience last week to Royal Pines?  It’s two different golf courses.

ADAM SCOTT:  Absolutely.  I mean, I left most every chip and putt a bit short today, unsurprisingly.  It was incredibly firm and fast last week and this is more typical of the Queensland Bermuda‑style greens.

Like I said, they’re much more receptive than they’ve been in past years (audio interruption) been blowing here for a couple of months and if the greens are too firm with that kind of wind, it gets a bit tricky out there.  So you like seeing nice shots being well received into the green and I think that will make this a much more scorable golf course this week.

Q.  Adam, at some stage you’re the perfect fit for the Presidents Cup captain.  Is what Tiger did this last week, has that advanced your thoughts that you can even embrace being a player‑captain at some point?

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah, I don’t know.  I think after seeing what Ernie was going through, I don’t know if playing captain’s a good thing or a bad thing.  There’s a lot that goes into it.

It was exciting that Tiger was a playing captain, for sure, for the tournament.  It added a little something.  But potentially it’s limiting.  You know, I mean, you would assume that he’s going to play himself early on Sunday so he can have control over everything for the rest of the day.  If that isn’t the best strategy, then you don’t want to affect the team in a negative way. 

I don’t think it’s going to happen with me.  I think there’s a few guys who will definitely fill the role for the next few years, and hopefully I’ve got a few more years to concentrate on playing.  Then I don’t know where that leaves me, but I’ll look forward to being involved as much as I can in the next few years.

Q.  As Bruce mentioned before, you made a really nice leap in the rankings this year.  Measuring success in your game now, is it still trophies?  How hungry do you feel to get a few more of the big Australian ones that have perhaps eluded you in the period ‑‑

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah, that’s all it is.  I mean, the rankings kind of only matter to get you in all the tournaments.  If you’re in that position then. 

You know, I’m not necessarily motivated to be the No. 1 player in the world as much as I’m motivated to win a major championship.  I’ve been now ‑‑ all of it’s great, but a major championship can happen on a week and to get to No. 1 is a very long process.  If you start getting up there, then maybe that motivation will come again, but to win some trophies and win some tournaments, certainly the majors, there are a few other specific tournaments around the world I would like to win that I haven’t won. 

But here this week, absolutely.  I felt like whatever years were my best golf, a couple of these slipped away, one in a playoff here to win the PGA again.  There was an Australian Open or two that I was close at.  It would be nice while I’ve got a few decent years left in me to kind of wrap up a few more wins down here and leave as strong a legacy in the Australian game as well.

Q.  How much is it burning this time that you haven’t won?  You had a great year, but is it burning inside that you haven’t won since 2016?

ADAM SCOTT:  Yeah, it’s very ‑‑ it’s frustrating because I feel there have been some weeks where I’ve had the chance and it hasn’t happened and it’s very hard to find where I put a foot wrong in those examples.  Someone just played better and that’s annoying because it’s hard for me to control what they’re doing.  It just means I’ve got to lift my game a little bit higher.  It’s all right there. 

But I feel like I’ve been in a similar spot in my career to this before.  If I remember, maybe 2012 I was playing at a very high level and I didn’t win all year.  I ended up winning the Australian Masters at the end of the year, but I’m at that point where I just need to keep pushing myself along, keep the intensity at the right level because I’m doing the right things, it’s going the right way.  A breakthrough win here this week can carry me a long way into next year with Augusta only a few months away now.  So it’s important that I kind of get that win, and the confidence that those wins give you can take you a long way.

Q.  After taking last year’s summer off in Australia, did you have any thoughts coming back that you would get any sort of negative feedback from crowds or anything like that, because from the last three weeks you’ve been a popular player in the field, but did you have any thought that that might be the case?

ADAM SCOTT:  I didn’t really think about it too much.  I was I guess hopeful that everybody understood I was just having a rest last year and of course I would be back to play.  It was as simple as that. 

As mentioned last night at the dinner that the PGA held, that last week the reception from the crowd in Melbourne for me personally ‑‑ our whole team felt it, but certainly personally for me was a week that I’ll never forget.  It was fantastic.  They played a big part in lifting our team and my performance last week.  Holing a couple putts in front of them and having people go crazy was a lot of fun for me in my home country, so I’m so appreciative of that.  I wished I could have done a little bit better on Sunday because it would have been really fun to win a match in front of everyone. 

But certainly, you know, whoever comes out this week, I’m going to be playing hard and look forward to hearing a few cheers out there this week, too.  It’s been a fun three weeks even though in Sydney I didn’t even get to play my best, but I expect it this week.

MODERATOR:  Thanks, guys.