|
 Top-ranked Tiger Woods, who won this elite event last year, is a
notable absentee from the TPC Sawgrass while continuing his recovery
from back surgery and Scott is one of four players who could take
over at number one after Sunday's final round.
"I haven't been thinking about No. 1 that much," second-ranked Scott
told reporters on Wednesday while preparing for Thursday's opening
round.
"Look, I'm here to win golf tournaments. That's been the goal and
from that you can get to No. 1 in the world if you win enough, often
enough.
"I've had a couple of good chances this year already and haven't
been able to pull it off, not because it's been weighing on my mind
but I just wasn't sharp enough playing the last couple of rounds at
a few events."
Bizarrely, Scott could have overtaken Woods by not competing this
week at the TPC Sawgrass, simply due to a quirk in the official
world ranking system."It's just the way it is, I guess," the
Australian smiled. "It's a very hard system to perfect.
"With tours all around the world, people playing everywhere and
awarding fair points for everything, I think they have come up with
the best (system) they possibly can and they have been fairly
accurate over the years.
"Of course there's always the odd one that doesn't quite make sense,
and potentially this week if I sit at home and watch everyone, I
might end up No. 1. That's a bit odd but it's a complicated system."
STRONGEST FIELD
Scott would become world number one this week by finishing no worse
than joint 16th at the Players Championship, an event widely
regarded as the unofficial fifth major with the strongest field in
the game.
Also vying for the top spot are third-ranked Swede Henrik Stenson
and Americans Bubba Watson (fourth) and Matt Kuchar (fifth). Stenson
needs a top-six placing, Watson outright second and Kuchar no less
than victory this week.
[to top of second column] |
Given all the potential world ranking scenarios going into this
week, Scott is ideally placed to dislodge Woods from number one and
he is delighted to return to a venue where he triumphed as a
23-year-old in 2004.
"I love coming back here," said Scott, who won his maiden major
title at last year's Masters when he became the first Australian to
triumph at Augusta National.
"I was just a kid then (in 2004) and I didn't know how hard the game
was, but it's exciting coming back here and I'm very motivated this
week.
"I've been playing some good golf and not getting the results I
wanted, so here's a great chance for me to get back up in contention
again and hopefully pull off a win."
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Frank Pingue)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
