Virginia Golfer Voices
by SCOTT MICHAUX
Scott’s Gift to
Homeland Leaves
Lasting Legacy
Masters win on the Australian sports psyche.
The first Australian to play in the Masters
was Jim Ferrier in 1940, and the Sydney
native blew a four-shot lead after three
rounds in 1950 to establish a recurring
theme the next six decades for his successors
at Augusta National.
But the Australian complex regarding the
Masters really took root from 1981-99 when
Norman became the poster figure for Aussie
heartbreak at Augusta with nine top-10
finishes, including excruciating runner-ups
in 1986, ’87 and ’96. Suddenly the concept
of an “Aussie Curse” at Augusta was a topic
of conversation every April, heaping added
pressure on any Australian who showed up
at Augusta chasing a green jacket that had
became the nation’s most elusive prize.
“We’d won the Ashes in cricket, World
Cups (rugby and cricket), all the tennis
grand slams, all the other golf majors,
Olympic gold medals and Americas Cup
GREEN JACKET MAKING THE ROUNDS
Adam Scott put on the green jacket following his victory at the 2013 Masters, a win that was widely celebrated
in his native Australia.
It’s hard to convey the magnitude of Scott’s
38
“This is what you’ve wanted
for so long.”
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TOP: FILE PHOTO; MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY IMAGES
s homecomings go, Adam
Scott’s month-long “green
jacket roadshow” in Australia
will be tough to top.
It took more than 70
years of trying and failing
(sometimes painfully) at
Augusta for an Australian to finally break
through and win the Masters T
ournament.
Then Scott made his countrymen wait an
additional six months before finally taking
the iconic green jacket to his native land.
Scott put on quite a show in four
consecutive weeks of November to make it
worth the wait.
“Mainly due to the Scotty factor, the
crowd numbers were up, television ratings
were up, and golf has never seen so many
back pages of newspapers since the Greg
Norman days,” says Nicole O’Farrell,
communications and public relations
manager at the PGA of Australia.
Fans came decked out in green to
celebrate Scott’s initial homecoming on the
Gold Coast, and the Queenslander obliged
with his first victory in the Australian PGA.
They flocked to Royal Melbourne in
consecutive weeks, where Scott delivered a
victorious defense of his gold jacket in the
Aussie Masters, then teamed up with Jason
Day to give Australia its first World Cup
victory in 24 years.
Then they gathered in droves at Royal
Sydney to see if Scott could complete the
sweep and win the Open for the Aussie
Triple Crown. He opened with a courserecord 62 and led the field for 71 holes
before a closing bogey coupled with Rory
McIlroy’s birdie ended the quest and left
Scott and his fans “gutted.”
“It was hard not to feel some sort of guilt
in the way I won it,” McIlroy said.
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BANDON DUNES GOLF RESORT
A
sailing. Cadel Evans even won the Tour
de France,” says Marc Leishman, who
played with Scott in the final round at
Augusta and joined the eventual winner in a
“C’mon Aussie!” fist pump after Scott holed
a dramatic birdie putt on the 72nd hole.
“We’d won everything but hadn’t won the
Masters. It was obviously a huge moment to
get that monkey off Australia’s back and get
the green jacket.”
Scott wasn’t shy about sharing it with
the public.
He wore the jacket to a pair of corporate
events before the PGA, then he broke it
out again after his second round to sign
autographs and posed for pictures for 30
minutes for fans lined up to get a closer look.
“I love the reaction people get when they
see it,” Scott says. “I want to make sure I get
to share it with as many people as possible.”
That attitude was a far cry from 2012
winner Bubba Watson who, aside from a
post-Masters media blitz and a brief photo
shoot, always kept his coat closeted.
“None of my friends have seen it. None of
my friends have taken photos of it,” Watson
said last March. “It’s been sitting in that
garment bag. I haven’t taken it out. I don’t
let anybody see it or take pictures of it out of
respect for the tournament and out of respect
for the members of Augusta National.”
Scott, however, has relished the time that
only the reigning Masters champion gets
with the coat.