SCOTT AND CO. ARE AN `UNDER-RATED GROUP GOLF BOOM IN AUSTRALIA LEADS TO AN INCREASED PRESENCE ON PGA TOUR.Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer He's the defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre of the Nissan Open The Northern Trust Open, formally known as the Nissan Open and originally known as the Los Angeles Open, is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in February in Pacific Palisades, California. , which starts Thursday at Riviera Country Club The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. , and he returns a proven mudder mud·der n. A racehorse that runs well on a wet or muddy track. Noun 1. mudder - a racehorse that runs well on a muddy racetrack bangtail, race horse, racehorse - a horse bred for racing - having outlasted Chad Campbell David Chad Campbell (born May 31 1974) is an American professional golfer. Campbell was born in Andrews, Texas. He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and turned professional in 1996. in a playoff to win last year's rain-shortened 36-hole event. But Adam Scott
Adam Derek Scott (born July 16, 1980) is a professional golfer and one of a crop of young Australians plying their trade on the major golf tours. , who also won the Players Championship two years ago at age 23, is more than just a solid young player who can thrive in the rain and under the pressure of a could-be major on a course as challenging as The Players' site at TPC at Sawgrass The TPC at Sawgrass is a well-known golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and was the inaugural Tournament Players Club. Sawgrass has two courses, the Stadium Course and the Valley Course, and is also home to the PGA Tour's headquarters. . He is one of the pacesetters in a growing Australian golf boom that has landed more than two dozen Aussies on the PGA Tour The PGA Tour is an organization that operates the USA's main professional golf tours. It is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA. Its name is officially rendered in all caps as “PGA TOUR". . The man most associated with golf excellence Down Under considers Scott to be one of the best young players in a talented group of Aussies, including tour veterans Stuart Appleby - winner of three consecutive Mercedes Championships - 2001 Nissan winner Robert Allenby and Steve Elkington, who won the 1995 PGA Championship at Riviera. ``You look at the success rate of some of the players, you've obviously got to look at Adam Scott,'' Aussie great Greg Norman said at last year's International, ``because he's probably got a better strike than some of the other guys.'' Norman, the Great White Shark great white shark or white shark Large, aggressive shark (Carcharodon carcharias, family Lamnidae), considered the species most dangerous to humans. It is found in tropical and temperate regions of all oceans and is noted for its voracious appetite. who won two British Opens, helped spawn the Aussie surge that has brought 2004 John Deere Classic The John Deere Classic is an American professional golf event which is on the PGA Tour schedule. It is played annually in July, the week before the British Open Championship, at the TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. winner Mark Hensby, 2005 tour driving champion Scott Hend and three-time tour winner Scott to the world's best tour in recent years. ``I think what you are seeing now with I think all 25 Australians on tour is kind of the Greg Norman effect,'' Scott said, ``the effect he had on the game in Australia and, for a small country, how much he brought people into golf. ``Now, you are just seeing the result of him inspiring a whole lot of young kids and even older guys to get into the game and wanting to become golfers. He has really paved the way for a lot of us down here.'' Hensby, who tied for third in last year's U.S. Open, Allenby, Appleby and Elkington all are in this week's Nissan field, as are three other Aussie golfers - Aaron Baddeley, Peter Lonard and Rod Pampling. Scott, who has eight official professional wins worldwide, was a bright prospect at a young age, winning Australian and New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. Junior titles and shooting a course-record 62 in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. ``Obviously Greg was very dominant for a long time (on the PGA Tour) and also Steve Elkington, I would say,'' Scott said. ``Then you have guys like Wayne Grady, who won a major (the 1990 PGA Championship). So there was a good cast of golfers over there for me to watch growing up.'' Most of those who came out to watch Scott last year at Riviera brought umbrellas. The 79th annual event was played in near-constant rain, which flooded fairways and turned bunkers into small lakes that attracted ducks. Play was called off early on the fifth day of the scheduled four-day tournament, which included nearly as much down time as course time. ``It was a lot of sitting around in the locker room and really not knowing what was going on, which is quite a frustrating week,'' said Scott, who wound up with $864,000 in official money but no official victory - since regulation play did not exceed 36 holes. Rain delays each day led to suspension because of darkness Thursday through Sunday, with play backing up to such an extent that a Sunday- morning storm delayed the conclusion of second-round play two hours. Third-round play didn't start until 2:45 p.m. Sunday and was called 30 minutes later because of more rain. That led to a final suspension that brought all the cut survivors back Monday morning, when course conditions forced officials to declare the event ended at 36 holes. Scott's par on the first playoff hole - Riviera's uphill, par-4 18th - gave him an odd victory in keeping with an unusual week. His win - which turned out to be his only tour win of the year - is not listed in his tour statistics because it was unofficial. Dave Shelburne, (818) 713-3609 dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Adam Scott, last year's winner of the Nissan Open, is one of more than two dozen Australian players on the PGA Tour. Chris McGrath/Getty Images |
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