Relaxed Scott has recipe ready for title defence

You know you are in a good place heading into the Masters when all you have to worry about is whether the Augusta National chefs will get your mum’s pavlova recipe right for the Champions’ Dinner.

That was the chief concern for Adam Scott last night as he hosted the annual event for his fellow Green Jacket winners to mark the end of his reign as 2013 champion, when he sank the winning putt to win a play-off with Angel Cabrera and roared “C’mon Aussie” to kick-start national celebrations Down Under. For as he waves goodbye to a breakthrough season which saw him finally deliver a Masters victory for Australia, Scott is looking forward to a title defence he believes could very well place him in an even more select group of golfers.

Only three defending champions have returned to Augusta and repeated the trick the following year and they represent a triumvirate of golfing greatness, from Jack Nicklaus in 1965-66 through Nick Faldo in 1989-90 to Tiger Woods in 2001-02.

Whether world number two Scott, the highest-ranked player in the field following Woods’s withdrawal, is worthy of a place among those multiple major winners in golf’s great pantheon remains to be seen, but emulating them this weekend would be as good as any place to start.

“I feel I’m playing really well,” Scott said yesterday. “I really like the last couple of weeks’ work that I’ve done. The game was there at Bay Hill (third place in his most recent start) and I’ve just tried to keep it there.

“I felt like my game was getting to a place where it needed to be to contend here, and hopefully I’ve sharpened it up a little more since then, but I’m definitely feeling a lot more comfortable on this golf course over the last few years, and certainly winning. And the confidence you take from that helps as well. So I look forward to playing Thursday.”

Being Masters champion has its responsibilities, not least selecting the menu for Tuesday’s Champions Dinner, but Scott is hopeful he can balance obligations to Augusta National with his need to focus on his title defence.

Scott is serving an Aussie barbecue theme, with the surf element coming courtesy of a species of lobster known as ‘Moreton Bay Bugs’ flown in from Brisbane on his native Gold Coast.

“We’ll see how the chefs do with Mum’s pav. That is going to be maybe a little trickier for them. Hopefully they get it right.”

After that, though, it will be straight back to business.

“I think I’ll be ready to get inside the ropes and compete. I’m trying to balance everything the best I can and enjoy it. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to this whole year, thinking about the Champions Dinner, and I just can’t wait to be up in that room and see what that holds. So many new experiences, it’s really exciting.

“I think once we pass (Tuesday) night and it’s down to Wednesday, the nerves and anticipation will build and I’ll feel like it’s just another major championship to go and play.”

That Scott is now one of the players to beat this week is not lost on the Australian, although he believes the net of contenders is widening compared to previous years when Woods dominated the betting in every major.

“In the past, certainly, it was easy to go to events and look at a guy, who is the guy to beat. That scope has kind of broadened now. There’s a lot of guys with the talent and the form that aren’t necessarily standing out but on their week are going to be tough to beat.

“You know, there’s probably 20 guys you could go through here but if they play well, they are going to be there on Sunday at some point. That’s how I see this week. I’d like to think my name is one of those guys and I feel like I’m going to be one of the guys who has got a chance if I play well this week.”

Scott’s Masters breakthrough last season was followed three months later by his good friend Justin Rose’s maiden major victory at the US Open at Merion. Scott had texted the Englishman, both aged 32 last year, prior to the tournament and said “this is our time” and Rose, seeking to break a European duck here stretching back to Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999, said yesterday that having broken his majors duck, he was hopeful of succeeding the Australian into a Green Jacket.

“I think you do come in here looking at increasing your tally of major championships,” a bullish Rose said, “not just searching for your first one but to feel like you can go on in your career to win multiple major championships and knock off your next one that you haven’t won. At least knowing you’ve won a major and knowing you’ve faced those emotions before and you’ve come through, it’s a huge benefit turning up here this week.

“I think my chances are good. I feel like it’s a golf course that I’ve played well and played some great rounds on. The course suits my eye, this course really suits me. But at the same time I know it suits a lot of players. It suits Rory (McIlroy). It suits Phil (Mickelson), it suits Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley, obviously Adam Scott.

“I feel my game is very capable of playing well around here, so that gives me a great chance.”