After narrow misses the last two years, Adam Scott has set his mind on emulating his childhood hero Greg Norman by winning The Open. The world No1 Aussie made four bogeys in his last four holes at Lytham in 2012 to lose what looked like his maiden major win, and was tied third last year at Muirfield.
Scott made amends last year at The Masters, and has played consistent golf over the last couple of years. And the 33-year-old feels winning The Open will further validate his standing in the sport.
“Of course, you want to emulate what your childhood hero has done, and Greg winning The Open, it’s always sat very high with me. And watching Baker-Finch win it, as well, in the fashion he did, was pretty spectacular,” said Scott.
“It’s got a huge amount of meaning to me. I think it does to all the golfers. And Phil Mickelson, I really liked what he said, he felt like a complete golfer after he’d won this, because it’s such a different test and examination of your game.
“The conditions are so different than we usually play. And the shots you need to hit at some point, you have to hit something pretty creative that wouldn’t work anywhere else.
"I think the sense of achievement that Phil must have felt is huge with the history and everything else involved in it. So absolutely, I’d love to get my name on the trophy with Greg and the other Aussies.”
Scott said the end in Lytham may have been disappointing, but he felt that was the place where his current run of form, and confidence, began.
“I think Lytham was the proof to me that I’ve got what it takes to win. It was obviously not the finish there. But that gave me a lot of confidence not just about playing well in Majors, but also that I had the game to win an Open Championship,” said Scott.
“I think I’m playing some of the best golf of my life at the moment, so I should really be taking advantage of it and stepping up this week and putting myself in with a good chance. I don’t know how long that’s going to last. So I’ve got to try and take advantage of that and win all the events that I’d really love to win, and this is certainly one of them.
"I’ve given myself a couple of opportunities and haven’t done it. I think maybe the third time you have to do it or it might not come back around.”
Scott comes into the tournament after relishing the last couple of months as the new world No1.
He said: “It hasn’t changed the way I play the game. But I’ve enjoyed the last couple of months immensely.
"I think it’s been such a process to get to this childhood dream and achieve it that I’ve tried hard to keep myself there for a little bit. And I’ll be trying hard again this week to win some more points to stay up there.”