‘Couldn’t Watch Him Play’: Tiger Woods’s ‘Intimidating’ Presence Forced 14X PGA Tour Champ to Find a New Way

Back in the early 2000s, Adam Scott was one name circulating in everyone’s mouth. Coming from a country that produced Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, and the like, Scott should’ve drawn comparisons with his venerated compatriots.

Instead, it was Tiger Woods.

The Stanford dropout already completed an eponymous major slam. They shared the same coach, yes, Butch Harmon. Then, in 2004, Scott won the PLAYERS Championship. Veteran columnist Gary Van Sickle wrote an article for Sports Illustrated titled thus: “Tiger Twin Adam Scott swings like Woods, is built like Woods, and attacks the course like Woods. At the Players, Scott also won like Woods.”

There is no way to know if Scott read that. But had he, the Australian would’ve chuckled. Yes, there was every reason to dub him ‘Tiger Twin.’. Actually, Scott sort of made sure of that himself. Tiger Woods’s swing—the pre-2000 one—was too charming to avoid its allure. Scott, like thousands of other junior golfers, tried to emulate that.

“When I was 16, he [Tiger Woods] turned pro. Snapping the hips harder than anyone ever had and hitting it harder than most.” So, Scott tried to do the same. And why not? If you were an aspiring pro golfer in the 90s, of course, you would try to emulate the swing that brought six USGA championships, a Masters title, and so on.

But when the time came, and Scott was getting paired with Woods, he had to avoid the then world no.1. Scott loved to watch Ernie Els swing when he was paired with him. He could feel that rhythm. With Woods? It’s a different ball game. Even though he watched clips of Woods’s practice from the 2000 Open for inspiration, he couldn’t watch him live. The reason is exactly what Bryson DeChambeau said in a previous interview.

Tiger Woods has a formidable presence. Speaking to Golfer’s Journal, Adam Scott explained, “Like playing with Tiger, I couldn’t watch him play. It was intimidating, to be honest. You know, I’d turn around and not watch. Even though, I, at one point, tried to swing very much like him.” 

Well, Scott obviously had a front-row seat to many of Woods’s spectacular major wins. In fact, the Australian, who himself went on to become world no. 1, played a practice round with Woods before the historic 2000 US Open. Woods went on to win by 15 strokes. How was that first experience? Scott revealed that in an earlier interview.

Adam Scott on playing with Tiger Woods for the first time 

It was 2000, and Scott was still an amateur. He wanted to turn pro like Tiger Woods did. He was obviously swinging like Woods already. Then Butch Harmon let him play a few holes with his most prized student. “The best thing that could have happened to me was he went out and won by 15 that next week. I thought, ‘They’re not all like that—I might have a chance,’” Scott said in a chat with PGA Tour Sirius XM radio a few years back.

Over the years, they played together a lot more times. Scott’s swing became more and more like Tiger Woods’s. And at one point, it even became better. Woods, of course, changed his coach and changed his swing as well. A misconception needs to be cleared first. Harmon didn’t actively modify Scott’s swing to emulate Woods’s.

“That’s just not true. When Adam came to UNLV from Australia in 1999, he was already swinging this way. They have similar builds, and they can do the same kinds of things athletically. I saw Adam and said to myself, “Wow, this looks familiar…” Harmon wrote in an article for Golf Digest.

He also mentioned that Scott’s swing became so perfect over time that it triumphed over Woods’s. “Ironically, Tiger should probably look at [the] tape of Adam’s swing because, at this point in time, Adam is in better positions, especially at impact.” Adam Scott would not admit this, of course. He is too humble on that front.