Scott Focused on Merion Glory

A guest post:

Adam Scott insists his capitulation at last year’s Open Championship is behind him as he eyes back-to-back Major successes at this week’s US Open.

The 32-year-old Australian bogeyed the final four holes to lose by a shot to Ernie Els 11 months ago but bounced back superbly to win the US Masters at Augusta in April.

Scott is now bidding to become the first Australian to win back-to-back Majors and the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to capture the Masters and US Open in the same year.

He said of his collapse at Royal Lytham: “It’s maybe more apparent to me now that plenty of people were surprised that I wasn’t just shattered but honestly that’s not how I felt. I felt like I won the tournament to be honest; it was like a victory.”

Scott has changed his itinerary in the last two years so that he can focus on doing well at the big tournaments and the policy has paid dividends as, in the last nine Majors, he has a victory, two runner-up finishes, and five top-10 places to his name.

The world number three will play alongside Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, both favourites for the US Open 2013 at Betfair.com on Thursday and Friday but it looks set to be a soggy course after heavy rain forced the players to abandon their practice rounds at Merion on Monday.

Meanwhile, Els says talk of a record low round at this week’s tournament is likely to be wide of the mark. Merion is the shortest Major course for more than a decade, but the South African said:

“I can see pin placements are going to be quite tough to protect the course. The finish is still very strong and I’m not going to say anybody is going to shoot a 62 at a US Open.”