Scott shows promise but needs more experience, says Woods

TIGER Woods believes Adam Scott, the runaway ten-shot winner of the Scottish PGA Championship on Sunday, is “a great player” who would probably be better off continuing to ply his trade on the European Tour before tackling the more competitive American circuit.

Scott’s amazing eagle-birdie-eagle finish for a fabulous 26 under par total at Gleneagles confirmed what many good judges had been saying about the Aussie for a couple of years: that here is another Peter Thomson and Greg Norman in the making.

Amazingly, he missed five cuts in six events in the middle of the season to drop out of the world’s top 50 and that’s why he was in Scotland rather than Seattle for the NEC World Championship won so splendidly by Craig Parry, another Australian.

Scott is now very much back on track having blitzed the course on which the 2014 Ryder Cup will be played. He will be an interesting competitor in the American Express World Championship at Mount Juliet where he will cross golf clubs with, among others, Woods himself.

“I think it’s the right decision for Adam to stay in Europe for the present,” Woods said after he himself finished fourth in the NEC on Sunday.

“He’s only 22 and still young in his career. He needs a little more experience. Being over there where the fields aren’t so deep will help and get his confidence up. Winning by ten should obviously help in that regard as well. He’s a great player and it’s only a matter of him getting enough experience and knowing what decisions to make on the golf course,” he said.

Woods does not reveal his schedule in the weeks before an event, although US Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange has already let the cat out of the bag over the American Express Championship by revealing that all but Hal Sutton of his team of 12 the following week at The Belfry will be at Mount Juliet on September 19 to 22.

Furthermore, Woods also showed his hand, perhaps inadvertently, at the PGA when stating that he had two World Championships in his sights and hoped to win both. Well, the NEC has passed him by, so now his focus is on making amends in the AmEx.

“I’m taking some time off,” Woods said after the NEC.

“I’ve worked pretty hard these last four weeks. I’ve played just about every day. It’s time to put the clubs up for a little bit and rest and recoup and then fire again,” he said.

Accordingly, it’s odds-on that his next competitive appearance will be at Mount Juliet, where he had a practice round during his Irish visit the week before the Open Championship.

Because he finished “only” second in the US PGA and fourth in the NEC coming on top of victory in the Buick Open, some say it hasn’t been a great few weeks for the runaway world number one. Woods is intent on knocking on the head any such notions.

“I played well last week and at the British Open as well,” he maintained.

“If I put that together with these three tournaments, I’ve played really well. I’ve only won one tournament, but that’s not bad either. Any time you can win one and put yourself in contention to win others, you’re doing all right.”

Irish galleries can now look forward to seeing a refreshed and eager Woods in action at Mount Juliet.

One of those playing well enough to thwart his ambitions in Co Kilkenny, however, is Englishman Justin Rose, who has made fantastic strides this year after a miserable time in his first three years as a professional. He is entitled to enormous credit for keeping his mental attitude positive through a 27 consecutive missed cuts and he is now reaping the benefits after winning four times worldwide this year and finishing fifth in Seattle. And he has good reason for believing that his mindset was just right over the four days.

“I really enjoyed the course, it seemed to suit me, and developed a good strategy,” Rose said.

“I hit a lot of drivers off the tees. I attacked to a certain extent. I opened up with two good rounds and even though Saturday was dodgy and I didn’t feel comfortable with my game, I hung in there. And then Sunday I came back with a good round,” he said.

“I’m now looking forward to the rest of the campaign. I’ve got a great schedule with some big tournaments to play, the AmEx in Ireland, the German Masters, the Dunhill Links. There’s plenty of stuff left.”

Rose will not be playing in the Ryder Cup. If things remain as they are, five of the European side, Jesper Parnevik, Paul McGinley, Lee Westwood, Philip Price and Pierre Fulke, will not be involved at Mount Juliet, having failed to qualify. They have until September 9 to do so.