Adam Scott’s tribute to coach

Adam Scott says it’s time his brother-in-law Brad Malone got more recognition for his transformation into a golfing major championship force.

Coming on board as coach as Scott flailed in a slump in late 2009, understated Englishman Malone has worked systematically to get him to the point where he can claim the world No.1 ranking if he retains the Masters title on Sunday.

It’s no coincidence Scott is by far the best performer in the four majors across the last two years.

He is one of just three players to make all eight of those cuts and is a collective four-under the card for the events, a mile ahead of Jason Dufner at 12-over and Tiger Woods at 21-over.

With Malone, Scott has devised a diligent and methodical way of peaking for the majors and he says his coach’s influence is not understood widely enough.

“I think it’s completely underestimated by most people,” Scott said.

“Because he is such a good guy he just sits back and is not worried about not getting too much adulation.

“Obviously a lot is made of (caddie) Stevie (Williams) coming on the bag but that was just part of it.

“Brad was there before that and he shaped the way I’ve gone about the last few years.

“He took a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and said he’d be accountable if it went wrong. But he believes in me and I believe in what I’m doing and I believe in him.

“I owe a lot to Brad.”

Malone isn’t one for taking credit but did talk about a key change to Scott’s golf swing when they came together.

“His grip had gotten away from him, it got into a strong position and then the knock on affect of where he’d position the ball, where he’d aim, where he’d then swing and ultimately where the club would come back down to impact was all affected,” Malone said.

“The knock on effect of that was it wouldn’t spin the ball much and he was always combating trying to generate more spin.

“As soon as he made the adjustment of the grip it then had its own knock on consequences.

“He found it easier to position the ball further forward in his stance and aim squarer to the hole instead of to the left so much.

“He’s got so much natural ability he picked up on it quickly.”

It’s not hard for Malone to pinpoint a moment from the 2013 Masters as his favourite.

While most remember the two putts Scott holed to both get into a playoff and win it, Malone reminisces on the final approach shot in the playoff win over Angel Cabrera.

“One of my favourite shots of the whole week was his shot into 10 after Cabrera had hit the green and Adam was in between a hard seven and a held six iron,” Malone said.

“The six iron was the shot but not necessarily the easier one but he chose that and pulled it off.

“That for me was rewarding because I felt like that was a shot he’d worked hard on over the years to ultimately play at some point under pressure, which he did.”

And does he think Adam will become just the fourth player in history to repeat at Augusta?

“Everything we have been doing over the last few years is geared around consistency leading into the majors, going through the same process and we have something working that should give him the opportunity come Sunday.”

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