Adam Scott has no chance of escaping hype surrounding his bid for golf’s world No.1 ranking after being paired to play alongside incumbent Tiger Woods.
The Australian world No.2 says it would be “an incredible achievement” to take over the top spot and become just the second Australian after his childhood idol Greg Norman to do so.
He’s endeavouring to treat this week’s World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship just like he does every tournament – a chance for victory.
But tournament organisers ensured the spotlight will be well and truly on Masters champion Scott after putting him in a group with Woods and world No.3 Henrik Stenson for the first two rounds at Doral’s Blue Monster course on Thursday and Friday.
Scott tees it up knowing a win will catapult him to the top of the tree, provided Woods fails to post a reasonably high finish.
With 14-time major champion Woods, who is also the defending champion, no certainty to start after withdrawing from last week’s Honda Classic’s final round with back spasms, the door could be wide open.
“It’s an incredible achievement to be No.1 in the world no matter what you are doing so it would be an amazing achievement to get there,” Scott told AAP after practising on Tuesday.
“It’s possible, which is great, but it is still a long way away as I have four rounds to beat one of the best fields in golf.
“So my goal is no different this week; it is always to win. But firstly I have to get myself in a position to do so.”
If Woods and the rest of the 69 players all make it to the first tee of the lucrative no-cut event, it will be the first time since the 2012 US PGA Championship that the top 50 in the world have all been active at once.
Norman spent the last of his 331 weeks at No.1 in January, 1998 and Scott would dearly love to follow him.
“Someone has to be the next one,” said Scott.
“It may be me or it may be (world No.4) Jason Day or it may be someone else but, when you have an icon in the game of golf like Greg Norman and you’re the generation to follow, everything is going to be compared to him and I have only ever taken that as a compliment.”
It’s Scott’s second tournament back from a spell as he prepares for his Masters title defence next month and he’s coming off a tie for 12th place at the Honda Classic on Sunday.
“I have a little bit more work to do to learn the course and also to just fix a couple of loose iron shots that showed up in the game last week that were unexpected,” he said.
“But I am back in tournament mode and it would be a great week to get up there in the mix.”
Day is also eyeing the top spot after his triumph at the WGC Match Play, although he is still at least a few big wins away from making a legitimate assault.
“I don’t want to stop. I want to keep winning,” Day said.
“I want to keep competing and playing well and like I said I’ve always wanted to get to the No.1 spot in the world.
“I know that Tiger is up there right now and there’s a pretty big gap between me and him but I think it’s achievable if I put in the hard work and win.”
Brett Rumford and Scott Hend will make their debut at the event to round out the Australian tilt.
Rumford qualified courtesy of his 17th place finish on the European Tour money list in 2013 while Hend got the nod via a second place finish on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
