By Will Martin
For the longest time there was only one golfer to lay claim to the #1 ranking in golf. Sadly, he is injured and his return to the links is in question. A new #1 was crowned this week and he chose to play in this weekend’s Colonial Tournament. Adam Scott after one round had a rough front nine, came down to normal on the back nine for a first round 71.
Were you curious about what goes through the mind of a #1 ranked golfer after his first round? I was too so without further adieu lets hear from Adam Scott moments after his +1 performance Thursday at the Colonial.
The first nine holes of Adam Scott’s reign as No. 1, not what you expected. A slow start on the front nine. To what do you attribute that start?
Adam Scott: I don’t know, really. I thought I actually hit plenty of good shots and played from the fairway for 4 over, so it wasn’t ideal, but I managed to tighten up on the back and make a couple putts. You’ve got to really play sharp at all points. Even though you’ve got a wedge in your hand, you have to be spot on, so I enjoyed it.
On the front nine, did you find that your iron game was better able to take advantage of the shots you were hitting on the fairway?
A little bit. Just to get a little momentum going and knock it on the first, and then the two putt birdie and have a three footer for birdie on the next just gets you going a little bit. That didn’t happen on the other side and went the wrong way. So it’s an interesting day, but it was plenty of good golfing still.
Did it feel any differently playing as #1?
Maybe a little pressure, but not really. It was a great group for me today. Very comfortable to play with these guys, and they were playing pretty nice too.
Can you talk about being able to kind of recover?
I thought I was hitting plenty of good shots on the first nine. Made a couple errors into the greens and compounded by not getting up and down. So couple of good putts didn’t go in, so slipped away a little bit. I knew I was playing well, and I hit a couple good shots from the first and set up birdie, same on the second. All of a sudden I was kind of, you know, I had the momentum going the way I wanted and managed to hang on for the next few holes. It’s a testing golf course. It was good, I enjoyed it.
Did you feel any differently today going to the tee with the #1 ranking? Was it any different for you today?
No, there’s not a big difference. It’s always the first tee nerves of starting a tournament out, But I certainly didn’t feel that much different.
Did it feel like anything around par is a pretty good score right now?
It’s OK. Right now it feels like the wind is down, but it was certainly blustery at times out there. Like I said, I think this course demands a lot out of you, and I did a great job of hitting it in the fairway today, but just not quite good enough a job in that first nine of placing it on the green in a good spot. So when the wind was blowing, it gets tricky out here.
Did the fans or anybody make anything about being No. 1? Did you hear more of that from people or anything?
Not today. I think a marshal introduced me as No. 1 on the number 2 green. That was about it.
You talked yesterday about needing to find your rhythm here this week. Do you find it difficult to do that in the early going?
It wasn’t too bad. Like I said, it’s one of those things that in this kind of golf it sometimes happens like that. When you’re playing okay and you’re turning 4 over, it’s hard to say. I can’t say I found my rhythm shooting 4 over, But I felt like everything was in a good spot. And I just have to be a little patient, and I think sometimes on a course like this you need to be, even with a short iron or a wedge in your hand, you can’t force it because bogeys are easy to come by.
How different it this course compared to o lot of them you play on tour?
Yeah, it’s extremely difficult, and to be honest, it’s quite refreshing to come and play a golf course like this which is a pretty easy walk around. It’s a short distance between greens and tees. It certainly brings your focus in. It’s much narrower, and you need to be in a good position.
And for those of you who missed out on Adam’s first news conference since being ranked #1 here that is. From May 21st moments before going out to play the Pro Am. Maybe he makes the cut, maybe not. For one week at least the mild mannered Aussie is #1 in the world!