Success is
winning tournaments

After a relatively unsuccessful season, the 27-year-old professional athlete is in a reflective mood.

“I base success on wins,” said Scott, who, up until October of this year, had secured just the one victory, the Shell Houston Open. “I was a bit disappointed with my year. To win more would have been better. But 2007 has been a learning year for me.”

Most other players on the tour would consider a season with one victory a success. But Adam Scott isn’t like most other players on the US PGA tour. He has greater ambitions. “I want to continue my work on developing the foundation (the eponymously named Adam Scott Foundation, which serves to provide opportunities to youth),” Scott said. “The best way to achieve that is to raise my profile, which raises my ability to do more for the foundation. And the best way to raise my profile is to win tournaments.”

Scott cites off-course distractions, including a change in management, as possible influences of his performance this year. But technically, he identified a challenge to his game that is more manageable.

“My chipping was poor,” he said. “That was the biggest and most noticeable difference in my game. I’ve also talked with Tony (Tony Navarro, Greg Norman’s former caddy and now Scott’s right-hand man) about improving the decision-making aspect of my game.”

For all his gracefulness and his subtle prowling around the course, Scott sees opportunity beyond the shot or the score. He is a strategist, and he wants to understand – and, if need be, perfect – the implications of everything he does.

“Every round of golf you play is a learning experience,” he said. “Golf is just like a game that you can never perfect. But you think you can. It’s a challenge for yourself. A challenge that throws up new ways for you to test yourself.”

It’s the constant challenges that inspire him. Like many of the game’s great players, he prefers situations that bring out the best in him, and allow him to develop as a person and a player.

“More and more I’m thinking on pressure situations,” Scott said. “I find myself welcoming them, wanting more of them. I’d much prefer to win a tightly contested event than to have a less-challenging victory.”

Whether that pressure comes from internal or external triggers makes little difference to Scott. But for a man who thrives on pressure and is as introspective and regenerative as Scott, the potential truly is unlimited.

“Success for me is about winning tournaments, it’s that simple,” he said. “That’s how I gauge my success. Realistically, there’s no other way, particularly for a competitive person. Outcomes are essential at this level.”

One outcome Scott would like to achieve this year is a victory at the PGA of Australia’s premier event.

“I see the Australian PGA championship as an opportunity to turn a relatively disappointing season into a good year,” he said.

Transcribed from the original magazine clipping. First published in Australian PGA Championship Magazine. Typography and line breaks have been standardised for reading online.

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