THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Adam Scott to the interview room here at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge. He is our 2014 champion at this event and making his first start here since 2018. Adam, welcome back. If we can get some comments being at a place that I know has special memories for you.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it sure does. I can't believe it's been since 2018. But a new golf course this year, refreshed, maybe, is a better word than new, but a great golf course, a great venue on TOUR. With the improvement to the course I was very keen to come back, and it fit into the schedule nicely, which has been challenging it seems for me since 2018, but that's how it sometimes goes. Hopefully some of those great memories of 2014 come flooding back and inspire some good golf out of me this week.
THE MODERATOR: Hard to believe it's been 10 years since then, but talk a little bit about what you remember. Obviously world No. 1 coming in and winning that week to keep that. Just talk a little bit about what you remember the most.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, well it was a really special week. It was a great time in my career. I had just moved to world No. 1 the week prior and I hadn't planned on playing the event, but I was world No. 1 by the smallest of margins and I felt like if I didn't play I could lose the position. I thought, well, it's been a long journey to get to world No. 1, it would be really fun to play as the world No. 1. So I decided to enter fairly last minute, and actually came in and got off to a pretty bad start that week, I shot 4-over my first nine and ended up winning the tournament. So, it was a great week to play as world No. 1 and I managed to hang on to that spot, at least that week anyway (laughing).
THE MODERATOR: Before questions, just the state of your game coming into the week.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I had a disappointing last week at the PGA. The state of my game had been pretty solid all around, but I struggled on the greens last week and I have struggled on the greens the two previous woks before that. So that's really held me back. I think my game is in better shape than results are showing. I know pretty much everyone who is not in the top 10 in the world is probably saying that, but that's how I feel. A little like I opened with, I hope that some good karma from this golf course kind of inspires a few better things for me on the golf course this week.
THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions, please.
Q. Have you seen the whole course?
ADAM SCOTT: I haven't. I played the front yesterday.
Q. What do you think of the 8th?
ADAM SCOTT: I think the 8th is great. I think that's a great improvement. Generally I think everything is a nice change. I mean, some of it is fairly subtle, I mean I really think what's nice is it feels like Colonial Country Club still and holes like the 8th are certainly improved.
Q. What was the word you used, not a renovation?
ADAM SCOTT: Refresh.
Q. A refresh, yeah. Could you expand on that, what you mean by that.
ADAM SCOTT: Well, I think some of the classic old golf courses, you know, certainly at the PGA TOUR, but at a lot of the great clubs the agronomy is such at a high standard now and sometimes when you've had grass on the course for 30 and 40 years and it gets old and a bit tired and now they have all new grass and it feels fresh and it's going to play very well, whether you're a member or playing this tournament this week. There's a difference between hitting off a nice tight new fairway or 40 year old kind of thatchy, matted fairway, and I'm not saying it was thatchy and matted here, but a freshen up is nice. I think Gil's incredibly experienced, and when you go to these great historical clubs, you don't want to lose the character. I think he's very aware of that and I think he was very gentle with his approach here.
Q. You've been extremely successful in the state of Texas. Why do you think that is?
ADAM SCOTT: I don't know. I've always felt that the state of Texas is most like Australia generally, from the trees to the golf courses are similar in a lot of ways. The people, I wouldn't call all Australians cowboys, but we definitely have a lot of cowboys as well. I think there's always been a level of comfort and I have enjoyed success on the golf course here. It also makes it a great week every time I come back to play in Texas.
Q. You've had a lot of experience on the TOUR and there's been a lot of changes within the last couple of years. What do you think the best change has been for the TOUR?
ADAM SCOTT: That's a hard one to pinpoint one. I think a lot is changing. I actually think going back to a calendar year, a calendar year schedule is a good thing. I think that makes a lot of sense to me.
THE MODERATOR: Back to Texas. Only player to win all four of the annual stops in Texas. Is that something you take pride in as well?
ADAM SCOTT: (Laughing). Yeah, a little bit. It's one of those cool, like asterisks next to your accomplishments. You know, that's fun, so I'll milk any of those as long as I can. Thank you for bringing it up. (Laughing).
Q. Rory's talked about sometimes it's hard to play with all the stuff going on outside the course and outside the tournaments and all the changes. I know you're in tune to all that. Have you found that sometimes that gets in the way of your focus, thinking about all the, you know, seems like daily, weekly, monthly changes, you know, to the world of golf?
ADAM SCOTT: Maybe I need to struggle a little more like Rory on the golf course. I would like to struggle like he does. (Laughing). If it's affecting his play, it's hard to see. He's played incredibly for a long, long time. Maybe he thought it held him back from some success. I don't know, I think we are probably at different stages of our careers and I don't think it has any impact on my play at all. It's all about -- I'm fully aware that where I need to put my time and at this point I have a little bit of time for dealing, being on the PGA TOUR board and I still think I have enough time to work on my game and other things in my life as well. So, but I understand everyone, if you asked me 10 years ago I probably wouldn't have been willing to give that time at that point, and so I can understand maybe Rory found that challenging.
Q. I know you guys are tired of this subject and it stinks, but can you tell us at all what you think the future of professional golf might look like in 12 to 18 months? Do you have any idea how this is all going to change and what it may ultimately the shape may be?
ADAM SCOTT: You know, the hard part to answer that is I think the PGA TOUR has a vision of what it wants to look like 12, 18 and then going forward, five, 10 and 20, you know, or at least 10 years down the line, let's say, and what it should evolve into. But at the moment there's another party that they're negotiating with that has to believe in that vision as well, and I don't know exactly what their vision is. It's hard for me to answer that directly because I can't comment on the other side.
THE MODERATOR: All right. Adam Scott, thank you, sir.
ADAM SCOTT: Thanks.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports