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WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2006

Adam Scott

WATFORD, ENGLAND

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Adam Scott, thank you four joining us here after the third round at the American Express Championships. Well played today, 65, 6 under and 13 under for the week, a couple of shots behind Tiger Woods right now, but maybe talk about your day today, a good one.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, a very good day, pretty testing conditions, really, for most of the day, and a good day to not drop any shots, so I'm very pleased with that. A few good shots in between yielded some birdies.

At the moment I've made up a few shots. Hopefully it stays where it is right now, and you never know, there might be a chance to run him down tomorrow.

Q. How do you find it? You say you had an excellent round, seems your best so far in the tournament.

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I felt pretty comfortable out there today. I think the more you play the course, the more you know some lines off the tees. You know, I think that's one of the tricky things about the course is the tee shots with a pretty strong breeze playing out there. You know, there are a few angles off the tees that you really have to work the ball to get it in the fairway. That's what made this course a challenge so far for me.

But I've been lucky in the rough, I've had some decent lies where I could move the ball near the green.

Q. Could you just talk about the inevitable Tiger factor? If he's in the lead, and when he's in the lead, he usually wins. How do you view that going into the last day?

ADAM SCOTT: Well, it's a nice record to have, obviously. You know, he's a tough guy to chase down, that's just proven, but it's been done a couple times. So you've got to hope that if I went out there tomorrow and not dropped any shots and didn't win and played well, then you can't do much more. You've got to do better the first two days, really.

My goal is to keep playing the way I have, pretty smart. I've only dropped two shots for the tournament, and the fewer mistakes I make, the more chances I'm going to have at winning events.

Q. How many shots do you need to be within?

ADAM SCOTT: Four would be

Q. You wouldn't want to be any more than four?

ADAM SCOTT: I don't think so. That's a lot of shots to make up. But we're looking at some bad weather tomorrow maybe. You never know. I'd hate to rule out any number of shots, but it's going to be everyone is up against it tomorrow. I mean, the guy is such a good front runner, he gets so focused. And we've seen this year how good he finishes out tournaments and shuts the field out on Sunday. We're all up against it, that's for sure.

But all you can do is go out and play your best golf and put a good score on the board, and if it's not good enough, then you've got to do better next time.

Q. Do you actually like playing with him, or do you prefer to go on the same score and in the group behind, say?

ADAM SCOTT: It doesn't bother me. I think playing with him is better than playing around me, really. People are at least somewhat still if you're with him; whereas, if you're in front of him, a lot of people moving around. I don't mind playing with Tiger. I've played with him a fair bit. You know, actually he's a very enjoyable guy to play with; he'll talk to you and comment on your shot, just like anyone else. So it's better to be with him, I think.

Q. Do you feel as though you're still a few years away from playing the sort of golf he's playing at the moment. Can you explain that?

ADAM SCOTT: I'm not even close to winning six times a year every year. I think it's just experience, and obviously the guy is extremely talented, works extremely hard, and I've got some ground to make up over the next few years obviously if I want to get anywhere near that level.

That said, I've pushed myself this year and I've played consistently well, and that's a good sign for me. It's just a matter of closing it out on Sundays a little better than I have and getting the wins up. I think when you win on that amount of times, the confidence is just that much better.

Q. You were saying to me the other day that you feel as though Tiger is looking for someone to sort of take it to him.

ADAM SCOTT: I'm sure he'd love someone to give him a challenge because at the moment he slips it into fifth gear and no one even gets close to him. You know, I don't know if that's going to be me. I hope it is. But realistically, maybe I can do it in one day, tomorrow, but I don't think I can do it all the time right now.

Q. When is the last time you guys have played in the final round together, or have you?

ADAM SCOTT: I can't think of one, to be honest. We played late in that week at the Match Play that one time.

Q. At La Costa.

ADAM SCOTT: But I can't think of a final round we played together.

Q. You used to play quite a bit of practise rounds together, didn't you?

ADAM SCOTT: Uh huh.

Q. Did that stop or did you get tired of waking up at 4:00 o'clock in the morning?

ADAM SCOTT: You can only wake up at 4:00 so many times. It's a little early. When I go out there at quarter to 6:00 and he was already on the 2nd hole he wasn't waiting for me to get my shoes out of the locker (laughter).

Q. I've lost track of your status. Are you a member of The European Tour now?

ADAM SCOTT: Yes.

Q. You still are?

ADAM SCOTT: Yes.

Q. Did you watch the Ryder Cup last week?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I watched most of Sunday and little bits here and there, but I watched a bit on Friday actually.

Q. Tiger's body language the first two days was totally different from what it normally is in a stroke play tournament. Any theories on that?

ADAM SCOTT: No. I mean, he didn't play very well is what his body language kind of showed me. You know, Jim didn't play as well as I'd expect him to play, either.

So, they were up against it. Even though they're the best two players in the world, with them both not playing well, it makes it hard to be a good team, so it's a little frustrating, no doubt. But it seems like he's fixed that up for this week (laughing).

Q. Have you thought about putting on or borrowing a European Ryder Cup cap tomorrow?

ADAM SCOTT: (Laughing) I don't know. Last time some guy wore a hat to take down Tiger, it didn't go too well. I'm going to wear my Titleist hat tomorrow.

Q. When you look at the World Rankings, is it a good year, a multiple winning year? You've had one good finish, but does it sort of

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, that's what you're looking for. I base my success of the year on winning, and last year was great, I won three times, and this year only once. I think I should be looking to do better than that. I had my opportunities, no doubt.

But like I said, I didn't close out very well on Sunday, and a couple guys had gone past me. I have to learn from that, and next time I'm in the position, I need to really finish it off on Sunday early.

Q. You've said you've taken so much delight out of beating Ernie in Singapore. How much delight would you take out of tomorrow?

ADAM SCOTT: It's a totally different thing. Fortunately for us, Ernie and I, the round was cut nine holes short and we had a three hole playoff. It could have gone either way.

It was a bit of a thrill for me to beat Ernie, who's a good friend and a guy I've looked up to for a lot of years.

But to beat Tiger down the stretch at a World Golf Championship is a whole different story. Anyone who beats Tiger coming from behind is obviously a bit of a legend (laughter).

Q. Do you international guys have any theories about why the Americans seem to roll over when they play the Europeans but they rise to the level to play you guys?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, I don't know. I'd like them to roll over a little more for us (smiling). We're going to definitely feel the heat next year in the Presidents Cup because we'd definitely like to get a win.

We're going to have a really strong team, and I'm sure the Americans are going to be bitter about not having the Ryder Cup, so they're going to want to keep The Presidents Cup. I think we're in for a really good competition.

Q. Do you guys talk about it amongst yourselves, The Internationals?

ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, a little bit. A few of the Aussies, we had dinner the other night and we were saying it's going to be an exciting event, all wanting to get ourselves on the team, Stuey and Rob and myself and Cambo.

Yeah, I think The Presidents Cup, the last couple years, has really lifted as a tournament, and I think with all the buildup over the next year I think it's going to be big there in Montreal with probably the Americans looking to get their hands on the trophy, and same for us. We haven't won it since '98.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Adam Scott, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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