AUSTRALIAN OPEN:IT WAS the warm embrace between Australian golf's past and its present, between two players who are among the most criticised of their respective eras. When Adam Scott lifted the Stonehaven Cup after winning the 2009 Australian Open yesterday, recording his first victory on home soil, he sought out five-time national champion Greg Norman for a special hug on the NSW Golf Club's 18th.
When many disregarded Scott as a good-time party boy whose potential was destined never to be realised, Norman was one of the few believers. He knows all about being written off and stuck solid to the player rated his heir apparent, controversially choosing him in his Presidents Cup team this year when Scott’s form scarcely warranted it.
Scott did not forget that support after victory in the Australian Open, a final-round 72 securing a five-stroke win over compatriot Stuart Appleby. “Greg and I have a fairly close relationship and obviously he’s a big supporter of mine and I wish I could have played this well for him at the Presidents Cup,” Scott said.
“He’s my hero. I’ve said that all along and he’s been so generous to me with so many things and countless bits of advice on the game.
“He can see inside that I want it badly, which some people may not see, but he knows me well and he can see that I want it badly and I work hard for it.”
But Scott, who was ranked as high as three in the world before slipping to his current 54, knew he would not get the critics off his back until he won at home. “I kept cruising along thinking it (a victory in Australia) will just happen, well, sometimes it doesn’t just happen.
“And I think the best athletes in the world go out and get it – a lot of people say ‘just let it happen, it’ll happen’, well, no, the best athletes in the world aren’t that patient.
“They go out and make it happen and that’s why they’re the best, they have the ability to do that. I had to look down at some point this year and be really honest with myself and say ‘how much do you want this?’, because it was getting close to slipping away.”
Scott survived a late scare to win by five shots over Stuart Appleby. Having led by as many as seven shots after 12 holes, the Queenslander opened the door for Appleby with bogeys at the 13th, 14th and 16th holes to lead by just three with two to play.
But the 29-year-old held his nerve with a regulation par three at the 17th before finishing in style with a birdie at the closing hole.
Appleby struggled to find the form which saw him open the tournament with consecutive 66s, battling to a three-over 75 to finish in outright second at 10 under.
Scott admitted to fighting off the mental demons as he closed in on an emotional victory. “It’s hard to hold it all together. A few times today I had to stop my mind from wondering about maybe winning this thing,” he revealed.
Win it he did, taming a brutal course with rounds of 68, 66, 67 and 72. The breakthrough victory ends a dreadful run for Scott, who missed 10 of 19 cuts (including six in a row) on the US PGA tour this year.
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