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 The Australian will be competing in his first PGA Tour event
since he dislodged Tiger Woods from the game's pinnacle on Monday,
and he was still coming to terms with that achievement when he spoke
to reporters on Wednesday.
"It's incredible really to sit here as the number one golfer in the
world," a smiling Scott said in the interview room at Colonial
Country Club. "I feel I probably downplayed the rankings for the
last few months.
"I was trying to take some pressure off myself and just think about
playing golf rather than other things that happen from it. Monday
morning when it was official I had a better sense of the achievement
in becoming number one.
"It certainly means a lot to me and my family and the team of guys
around me who spend a lot of time with me."
Scott, who spent 38 weeks as the second-ranked player, had several
chances to overtake Woods through high tournament finishes but
failed to do so until he seized the top spot on Monday.
 The 33-year-old is just the second Australian to become number one,
following Greg Norman's final reign which ended in 1998, but he
knows his stay could be short lived.
"I am going to have to work pretty hard to stay on top but part of
coming here this week was to play as the number one golfer in the
world and enjoy it for at least a week," said Scott. "And from there
we will see what happens."
The top five players in the rankings are separated by less than a
world ranking point and either Swede Henrik Stenson (third) or
American Matt Kuchar (fifth) could dethrone Scott this week. Woods
(second) and Bubba Watson (fourth) are not competing.
SIMPLE STRATEGY
For his part, Scott has a simple strategy in mind for this week's
PGA Tour event, which was won five times by golfing great and Fort
Worth resident Ben Hogan.
"I just need to get on with playing golf and enjoy this week," said
the Australian. "I enjoyed Monday night, celebrating with some close
friends.
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"You've got to do that to kind of understand otherwise everything
becomes very monotonous and just nothing's great, nothing's bad. And
you can't feel like that.
"You've got to go through the highs and the lows. This week is going
to be enjoyable but I'm going to just try and get on with playing
golf the best as I can."
Scott will tee off in Thursday's opening round in the company of
twice champion Zach Johnson and his fellow American Jimmy Walker,
the PGA Tour's FedExCup points leader.
Boo Weekley is back to defend the title he clinched by a shot last
year to get his name engraved on the Wall of Champions by the first
tee.
"It's always fun to be able to come back to a place that you enjoy
being around, and the golf course is always set up pretty good for
the way I get to play," said American Weekley.
"My game's good. Last week I hit it solid, I just didn't make the
putts. I'm hoping this week my putter will get hot kind of like what
it did last year."
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene
Cherry)
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