Las Vegas, Nevada (August 28, 2010 UPDATE AUG 30 )–While Adam Scott's time at UNLV was brief, we in the Las Vegas Golf Region still consider him a Las Vegas golfer, and most of the time when he is near the lead, a reference to UNLV Golf is often discussed. Scott played at UNLV under head coach Dwaine Knight in 1998-99, but his amazing potential led him to turn pro early. But while at UNLV, Scott struck up a relationship with Las Vegas-based instructor Butch Harmon, which lasted until last year. Now Scott, who won the Valero Texas Open earlier this season, works with a swing coach who hails from his native Australia, and is back on his way up the World Golf Rankings. Scott finished in a tie for 9th and moved into 19th in the FedEx Cup points list. —By Brian Hurlburt.
Scott, ranked 44th in the world, is among the leaders this week at The Barclays, the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2010, and has been more vocal than usual about his relationship with fellow Australian Brad Malone, who Scott refers to as his swing coach, more so than the Stockton's, Jr. and Sr . Prior to this tournament, Scott hadn't discussed his work with Malone very publicly, but did so following the first round. "I still talk to them," said Scott about working with the father-and-son Stocktons. "I saw them this week a little bit on an as-needed basis. They've been helpful, but I've really worked a lot with Brad, my coach, and everyone talks about Dave and that. But he (Brad) deserves a lot of credit for where my game's at, I think." Entering the third round, Scott was just three shots off the lead of the Barclays. Click now for more Adam Scott news from this website.
There are more than 30 tour pros who have strong ties to Las Vegas Golf Region courses, including Scott, who has seven PGA tour wins and nine international victories since leaving UNLV. The Las Vegas Golf Region is also the home to many golf courses, including Rhodes Ranch Golf Club, 18 holes of Ted Robinson golf. You can click now to view the official website of Rhodes Ranch. For a time, Scott was the 3rd-ranked golfer in the world but injuries and poor play had dropped him way down the rankings, before he started to put it back together late in 2009. His win in May at the Valero was an exclamation mark on his trek back, but he is still looking at bigger things. "It was great to get a win again, because it had been a couple of years since I had won on the PGA TOUR," said Scott. "I won the Aussie Open last year, but it's not quite the same as winning on the PGA TOUR although it's a big deal for me to win the Aussie Open. But winning is a good habit to be in. It's something you don't want to go too long without, because I've really grown up with the belief that I'm playing to win.
And it's been a habit I've been pretty good at keeping. I wanted to get out there and win and my focus now is to try and win before the end of the year again."
Scott has worked on all areas of his game, but a slight alteration of his putter has shown early, postive results. "I putted the same as the PGA," said Scott. I cut my putter down there. Cutting down is much better for me than going regular. Brad, my coach, suggested that because I wasn't feeling super comfortable with the left hand low going into the PGA. Like I said, I liked what I saw there. I'm sticking with it. I'm trying my best to stick with something." Heading into The Barclays, Scott was ranked 177th on the PGA Tour in putting. In 2007, when he finished 11th on the money list, he ended the year ranked 21st in putting. through two rounds, Scott was tied for 16th in the field of 125 in the average of putts-per-green-in-regulation. Quotes from ASAPSports.com. GolfLasVegasnow.com is a media-credentialed member of the PGA Tour.