‘Quite incredible’ for Adam Scott to head into Colonial at No 1

'I probably downplayed the rankings ... Monday morning when it was official, I had a better sense of the achievement' said Adam Scott ahead of Thursday's start to the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Adam Scott poses with a globe after becoming world No 1 ahead of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, starting on Thursday May 22, 2014. Tom Pennington / Getty Images / AFP
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Australia’s Adam Scott tees it up at the US PGA Tour’s Colonial this week still getting used to his status as the world’s top-ranked golfer.

“It’s quite incredible really, to sit here as the No 1 golfer in the world,” Scott said on Wednesday, days after he officially overhauled US superstar Tiger Woods in the world golf rankings.

“I probably downplayed the rankings for the last two months, maybe trying to take some pressure off myself and just play golf.

“I think Monday morning when it was official, maybe I had a better sense of the achievement in becoming No 1 ... It’s an amazing accomplishment for me.”

Scott’s tenure at the top could be short-lived, however, as both Sweden’s world No 3 Henrik Stenson and No 4 Matt Kuchar of the United States have a chance to get to the top this week should the Aussie falter.

Stenson is playing this week in the European PGA Championship at Wentworth, while Kuchar is at Colonial.

“I’m going to have to work pretty hard to stay on top, but a part of coming here this week was to play as the No 1 golfer in the world and enjoy it, at least for a week. From there, we’ll see what happens,” Scott said. “I think I just need to get on with playing golf.”

The Aussie supplanted the sidelined Woods without lifting a club last week, but even before then he’d added the Colonial to his schedule.

He gave himself a little time to celebrate his rise to No 1 on Monday night with a few friends, but now it’s back to business for the 2013 Masters champion who has yet to win a tournament this year.

He led the Arnold Palmer Invitational by a record seven strokes through 36 holes, and by three going into the final round before finishing third, and he finished tied for 14th in his Masters title defence.

Now he’s back at Colonial for the first time since 2011, hoping not only to extend his run atop the rankings but also to get his game in shape for the US Open in June.

With a victory in the $6.4 million (Dh23.5m) tournament the 33-year-old Aussie could add an unprecedented item to his resume: a career sweep of all of the US PGA Tour titles in Texas.

He won the Houston Open in 2007, the Byron Nelson Championship in 2009 and the Texas Open in 2010.

Thirteen players have fallen one shy of the so-called Texas Grand Slam, among them Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Nick Price and Phil Mickelson.

Scott said winning all the events in Texas would be “quite a fun thing to achieve”.

Defending champion Boo Weekley will also be seeking his own slice of Texas golf history as he vies to join Hogan as the only players to win back-to-back Colonial crowns.

Former US Ryder Cup player Weekley is coming off his best finish of the year at the Byron Nelson Championship in the nearby Dallas suburb of Irving. He carded four rounds in the 60s en route to a fifth-placed finish.

“My game is good,” he said. “Last week I hit it solid, just didn’t make the putts and I’m hoping maybe this week here my putter will get hot kind of like what it did last year,” he said.

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