Australian golfer Adam Scott aims to carry work ethic into the new year
Having made his major breakthrough in 2013 at the Masters, Aussie is determined to stick to his winning game plan and challenge for No 1 spot
Adam Scott was hard at work on the far end of the range at Kapalua. He emptied a large bucket of balls by hitting about 20 shots with a five-iron, turning the green turf into a square patch of brown with each divot.
Scott never seemed satisfied. His only conversation with Brad Malone, his swing coach and brother-in-law, was whether he was set properly at the top of his swing.
"No time for a break," he said when he was done, his tanned face dripping with sweat.
It's almost as though last year never ended, and Scott would love that to be the case.
My goal is to win majors - and now I can say 'majors' and not just one. I don't want to change too muchom last year
His plan to play less and gear his game more towards the majors paid off in a big way when Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters. And he didn't stop there. He had the outright lead on the back nine of the British Open until tying for third. He was on the fringe of Sunday contention at the US PGA Championship and tied for fifth. And then he won the toughest FedEx Cup play-off event, twice more in Australia, and captured the team portion of the World Cup with Jason Day.
Scott ended the year at No 2 in the world, closer to the top than he has ever been. This week, the Golf Writers Association of America announced he was its male player of the year in a narrow race - five votes - against Tiger Woods.