Scott desperate for victory at Australian Masters

MELBOURNE: Australia’s world No. 5 Adam Scott said yesterday he is desperate for a win at this week’s Australian Masters, held at his favorite home course.
“I haven’t won an event this year which bothers me a little bit,” Scott told reporters ahead of today’s opening round at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath golf course.
“Hopefully, I’ve got a chance this week and at the Australian Open (next month in Sydney) to rectify that.”
Scott added: “I’m pretty desperate for a win. I haven’t won an Australian Masters and it’s time I did.”
The Australian said it was the mark of a world-class player to win at least one event a year.
“Kingston Heath is my favorite Australian course so ideally I would like to get it done here this week,” he said.
Scott shares headline billing at the Masters with English defending champion Ian Poulter and his Ryder Cup teammate Graeme McDowell.
Poulter said his year had been “a little bit disappointing” up until he inspired the European comeback with five successive birdies on the penultimate day of this year’s Ryder Cup at the Medinah Country Club in Chicago.
The Englishman, 36, said he wished he could transfer his Ryder Cup intensity to the Majors, which continue to elude him.
“The Ryder Cup always kind of lights my fire a bit. For some reason you don’t get the intensity at a Major like you do at the Ryder Cup,” world No.16 Poulter told reporters.
He estimated that at the China WGC event which he won a fortnight ago he “probably had five percent adrenaline going through my body, compared to the 100 percent I had at the Ryder Cup.”
“That gives you some indication of the level of difference,” Poulter said, adding that he would stick to his energy-conserving routine of playing just one practice round before taking on the relatively short 6507-meter par-72 layout at Kingston Heath.
Northern Ireland’s McDowell said he has played the layout four times in the lead-up to the event.
“It’s a fantastic golf course, just a great advertisement (for) how a golf course doesn’t need length to be tricky and tough,” said the world No.24.
“Tee shot placement is a huge key, especially on the front nine. You start missing fairways and you’re in big trouble.
“And obviously the wind is a massive factor. The Melbourne sand belt reminds me a little bit of the west coast of England where you have Royal Birkdale and Hillside and that little stretch of phenomenal golf courses.”
Quizzed about the pending ban on the long putter he uses, Scott said he would have no trouble going back to the short one again.