Golfer Pacific By Bernie McGuire
Australia, August 2009 Aug 2009. QUEENSLAND star Adam Scott received a boost on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond when Serbian tennis beauty Ana Ivanovic turned up to watch him contest the Barclays Scottish Open.
Scott was spotted at Wimbledon watching Ivanovic compete and their relationship was confirmed when she travelled north to Scotland to support her Queensland-born boyfriend. Scott has had a hectic time off the golf course since splitting up with his long-term girlfriend and that has been reflected in his golf.
He had plunged from a height of third and heir apparent in the majors to a lowly 43rd in the world on arrival in Scotland. But on a day when Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich both scored tons for Australia on the second day of the First Ashes Test, Scott tapped into the support of Ivanovic to shoot an opening 65. The effort along the shores of the famed Scottish loch helped to erase a miserable run of missing the halfway cut in six of 13 US PGA Tour events, including six weekends off in succession from the end of March to the end of May.
Scott’s best finish in the States this season was in his second event when he finished runner-up in the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Scott hasn’t won in the States since capturing the Bryon Nelson Classic mid last year while his last victory in Europe was capturing the 2008 Qatar Masters when he produced a sizzling course record final round of 61.
“I’ve had my moments when I’ve felt down,” Scott admitted.
“I haven’t played well since finishing sixth in Qatar in January but I’ve tried to stay positive and really believed I was working on the right stuff.
“Finally, just before the US Open last month, I got the swing in the right position. It’s been frustrating but I am convinced I’m going to come out of this a better player.”
However, during his slump, attention focused on the Gold Coaster’s private life. If the hurt of jamming his little finger in a car door, then injuring his leg in the surf last December wasn’t painful enough, a five-year relationship with Swede Marie Kpjzar came to an end.
Scott had been snapped in the surf with actress Kate Hudson and his name has long been linked with Russian tennis great Maria Sharapova. It was at Wimbledon earlier this year where Scott’s romance with Ivanovic seemed official. He sat in the stands smiling and applauding the Serbian-born and former World No.1.
However Scott played down the relationship after his Scottish Open first round, saying: “We are both private people.
“Everyone knows what has gone on in my life in the past year but I’m not saying that had a direct impact on me playing poorly at the start of the year.
“I went to one tournament just not wanting to be there, and as much as I tried, it was like fighting my own mind. My game was terrible. I hadn’t practised. I was sorting things out (his relationship). I just felt crap.
“But it is nice to be in a good frame of mind in all areas of my life. She is a top sports star, too, and so knows what I am going through. I am a tennis fan so I probably enjoy watching her more than she enjoys being here watching me play golf.”
Ivanovic did, however, express her pleasure in walking the bonnie bonnie banks and seeing her ‘friend’ record five birdies. Earlier this year, the 21-year-old split with Spanish tennis star Fernando Verdasco before dating arguably Australia’s most eligible golfing bachelor. She said: “I am really enjoying my time here in Scotland, and, of course, I am here supporting Adam.”
Ironically a year earlier, Greg Norman brought former world No.1 and new wife Chris Evert to the British Open at Royal Birkdale where he went within a whisker of collecting a third claret jug.
