Scott building a game to win anywhere

Australia’s Adam Scott believes he is perfecting the game to win in any conditions and mount a challenge for the Majors after his stunning 10-shot victory in the Scottish PGA Championship.

Scott carded a final-round 63 for an astonishing 26-under-par total of 262 to claim the first prize of £166,660 (€261,123), his second win of the season and third European Tour title.

The 22-year-old’s 10-shot winning margin bettered by two strokes the previous best this season, set by Retief Goosen in winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in January.

It was also the lowest score on tour this season, beating Jose Maria Olazabal’s total of 22 under in the Hong Kong Open, and was just one short of the all-time European Tour record of 27 under held by American duo John Daly and Jerry Anderson.

Scott was an incredible 22 under par for the 20 par fives this week, and although his 63 will not count as a joint course record as preferred lies were in operation due to the wet conditions, it does earn him a Rolex watch worth more than £3,000 (€4,700) for the lowest round of the tournament.

Scotland’s Raymond Russell closed with a 68 to take second place, his best finish since winning his only tour title in 1996.

Sam Torrance was a shot further back in third, the Ryder Cup captain also enjoying his best finish since his last win in 1998, the day after his 49th birthday.

“It’s an important win for me to win in Britain and under some different conditions,” said Scott.

“I’ve won in perfect conditions [in South Africa and Qatar] but this was testing, especially on Friday.

“My goal is to get a game which is good enough to win anywhere. I want to win the Masters and the Open and they are on completely different golf courses, so I want to build a game that can win anywhere.”

A superb 65 amid a continual downpour on Friday set the foundations for Scott’s victory and more than made up for his disappointment of missing out on the NEC Invitational in Seattle this week.

“There was one reason to come here and that was to win,” added the Queenslander, who dropped out of the all-important top 50 in the world rankings after missing five cuts in six events in mid-season.

“I feel like I should be up there in the top 50 and I’ve gone about it the right way.

“I can take a lot of confidence from this win if I get myself into contention in another big event.

“It was disappointing and frustrating to play so badly after finishing ninth in the Masters at Augusta. I had got to fifth in the Order of Merit early in the year and had a chance to kick on and go and win it.”

Scott however paid the price for taking three weeks off after the Masters and vowed not to make the same mistake again.

“That was bad scheduling and this time I will have a good think about it and try to use it more to my advantage now that I’m playing well.

“I’ll have next week off and then play the Korean Open before the German Masters.”

Runner-up Russell had been languishing in 133rd on the money list at the start of the week, but ironically reaped the rewards of some hard work with coach Bob Torrance, the father of the man he pipped to second place.

“My dad would have wanted Raymond second because he gets a cut of his prize money, he gets nothing of mine,” joked Torrance, who also secured his card for a 32nd consecutive season on tour next year.

“But I’m delighted I’m going to be properly exempt next year rather than relying on the career money list.”

Russell, who moved into the top 60 with a cheque for £111,110 (€174,101), added: “I didn’t bother looking at the leaderboard until the 16th and I don’t look at the Order of Merit for the same reason.

“I can go into the rest of the year now looking forward to the rest of the tournaments and there are a lot of big-money events coming up.”