North Augusta - Arab Today
Winning the 2013 Masters may well turn out to be the pinnacle of Adam Scott's career, the Australian believes, but he remains hopeful of winning more majors.
Scott's emotion-packed playoff triumph under the rain over Angel Cabrera was a watershed moment both for himself and for Australian sport.
It was his first, and to date only, major title and came just 10 months after his heartbreak collapse to hand the 2012 British Open title to Ernie Els.
And the victory ended 76 years of Masters misery for Australians at Augusta National, especially involving national icon Greg Norman, who finished second three times.
It was one of the greatest achievements in the long, bejewelled history of Australia sport and one which 35-year-old Scott says he may never surpass.
"It's hard for me to think that anything I achieve will be bigger than that moment in my career, but that doesn't mean I'm not striving to win other Masters tournaments or any other big championship," Scott said at Augusta National on Tuesday.
"At some point, I would have said that I don't want it to be the one major that I win.
"I feel I've got the game to win other majors, and I'm looking to win my second major championship this week, and I'm driven towards doing that because I want to win a handful of majors in my career."
At 35, though, Scott knows that he is no longer the new kid on the block, having dropped out of the world top 10 last year as young guns Jordan Spieth, Australian countryman Jason Day and Rory McIlroy -- all in their 20s -- dominated the scene.
"I need to get my skates on because it's getting tougher and tougher every year," he said.
"But I'm in good shape. I think it will just be another boost for the confidence in my career to go on and try and achieve everything I've ever wanted.
"But it certainly seems like there are only a few players who have been very dominant over 40 years old, and it's probably going to be harder, too, as the young 20-somethings are better and better. That's probably a trend that's going to continue to happen.
"My window might not be closing, but it's not wide open, either."
- Superb run of form -
On the bright side for Scott is his recent run of superb form, having made the difficult transition back to the traditional short-stick putter over the winter months.
He chalked up back-to-back wins in the WGC-Cadillac Championship and Honda Classic and with two second place finishes also in his last six events, he is back up to seventh in the world and seen as being among the favorites this week.
And to further boost his confidence Scott will have back on his bag veteran caddie Steve Williams, who carried for four-time winner Tiger Woods when he was in his prime at Augusta.
"It's invaluable, isn't it?" he said of having Williams at his side.
"I don't know if any caddie has won as much as he has around here. So he has an affinity with the golf course from his side of things, and our results in the major championships since Steve started working for me in 2011 have been fantastic for me, if you compare them to my results in major championships before that point."
Source :AFP