Par Report: Up And Adam

Up And Adam
Shark.com Staff
November 6, 2006

Adam Scott's offseason just got a little shorter, and he couldn't be happier.

Scott already had assured himself of his highest finish on the PGA Tour's money list and a career-best world ranking of No. 4. But what the Australian didn't have this year was a victory in the United States.

Scott took care of that little matter Sunday with a three-shot win over Jim Furyk at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Scott started the final round with a three-shot lead and then tossed a four-under 66 at his rivals to ensure his 2007 season would be beginning in Hawaii at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in two months.

"It really does make a big difference," Scott said of the win. "I feel like all the hard work and everything I've put into it has actually paid off and I haven't come up short. I was pretty determined to finish it off today, and I didn't want to throw away this opportunity as well as some others I had done earlier in the year. I'm going to be a lot happier starting at Mercedes than somewhere else later in the year."

Scott, 26, has now won two of the PGA Tour's top non-major events, having triumphed at The Players Championship two years ago. These victories show the Australian is coming closer to fulfilling some huge expectations placed upon him when he turned pro at 19.

Furyk admitted he had no idea Scott is still so young. "To be honest with you. I assumed he was probably around 30 years old," Furyk said. "I guess he turned pro so early, you kind of forget those things. He's got a good swing, strikes it well, has some power, and has a good short game. What I like, he's very mature for a 26-year-old. He's ahead of himself in years for his maturity on the golf course and the way he plays."

Scott used some of that maturity to help him end his two-year winless drought in the U.S. (his victory at the Nissan Open last year was considered unofficial because the event went only 36 holes due to bad weather.) He said after he finished eighth at the British Open and third at the PGA -- his best showing ever in a major -- he sat down and analyzed his game.

And what did he learn?

"I make as many birdies as the winner every week, but for some reason I'm not winning because I make too many bogeys," he said. "Since the PGA, I've been grinding hard to not drop shots. I did that well this week."

He tied for the most eagles (one) at East Lake and he was sixth with 15 birdies. But the big key is he had only six bogeys all week, including one each in the last three rounds.

The biggest reason for his win was his work on East Lake's greens. Scott came into the Tour Championship ranked 138th in putting on the PGA Tour (29.38), but he tied for first at East Lake with 27.75 putts a round. Scott and Ernie Els were the only players in the field without a three-putt.

Scott becomes the third-youngest winner of the Tour Championship, behind Tiger Woods and David Duval. Scott knows the logical next step is for him to start winning majors. But prior to this season, he had only two top-10 finishes in 19 career starts in majors. Scott said he used to get psyched out about the majors.

"A little bit, yeah," he said. "I played too defensive for too many years in majors and didn't trust my game. I'm starting to feel more like they're just any other event, which I think is something it took me a while to get over that whole "major." It's hard and I'm not meant to be here."

Like most top golfers, Scott said his goal is to someday become the No. 1-ranked player. Scott knows he's a long way from getting past Woods, but at least hw knows he's closer than he's ever been to the player many believe has the most similar swing to his.

"That's what I'm one day hopefully going to get to is No. 1," Scott said. "It might take a while, but I think if I was to be No. 1 in the world at some point in my career, then I think that would be maybe the best achievement I could ever do in golf is get past Tiger Woods."

He's now No. 4, with a decent chance of catching No. 3 Phil Mickelson if Scott plays well in Australia. The ranking is nice, Scott said, but what he really wanted was that "W."

"You can't be that 3 or 4 player in the world without winning tournaments," he said. "That shouldn't happen. I feel more comfortable in that position seeing I've won an event."

The Par Report is posted every Monday on Shark.com. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Greg Norman.