Adam Scott shows poise of champion

By Special Arrangement with The Augusta Chronicle

 By Scott Michaux | Staff Writer

April 11, 2014: For months, Adam Scott has looked forward to all the perks that come with a green jacket. On Thursday, he realized the best one: confidence.

Scott walked to the first tee with the self-belief only Mas­ters Tournament champions can understand. He walked off the 18th green with a 69 that portends ominously for anyone hoping to beat him.

“There’s no doubt winning the Masters last year had me a little more comfortable on the first tee than I’ve ever been in the past,” Scott said. “Because I didn’t have the legs shaking and nerves jangling for six or seven holes like usual.”

Scott said the first few holes of the Masters are typically the most nerve-wracking he’s ever experienced. A combination of anticipation and atmosphere often conspires to make fools of the best players.

“It’s hard to calm down after you get going,” he said. “Even if you get off to a good start, it’s hard to calm down, let alone a bad start. But having won last year I think in some ways has taken a little pressure off me as I teed up today. I kind of felt like, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? I’m still going to be a Masters champion.’”

With that kind of attitude, Scott proceeded to knock his opening approach within 2 feet for a birdie. Birdies at Nos. 6, 8 and 10 had him 4-under and cruising so easily that 19-year-old amateur Mat­thew Fitzpatrick thought Scott had every shot “on a piece of string.”

The galleries greeted Scott at every tee and green as if it were a coronation walk.

“The best one, the memory that will stick with me forever today, was walking up to the 12th tee and everyone getting out of their seats as I approached there,” Scott said. “It was great. … But then I went and hit it in the water.”

“I think I felt like I played good enough to shoot in the 60s today, so that was a nice way to end the day and not walk off shooting 70,” he said.

“Getting off to a good start in a major is huge, because I think they are the hardest tournaments to kind of chase,” he said.

Scott is only one back of Bill Haas and just needs to keep playing the same way: like a Masters champion.