Australian Open confident Scott and Tiger will return

Golf Australia chief Steve Pitt hopes Adam Scott will be back for next year’s Australian Open and maybe even Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods makes his return to competitive golf next week

Golf Australia chief executive Steve Pitt is confident Adam Scott will be back for next year’s Australian Open and he hasn’t ruled out a return for Tiger Woods as well as the 14-time major winner prepares to make his latest comeback.

Woods, out of action for nearly a year, will make his competitive return from his fourth back surgery next week at the Hero World Challenge, a tournament he hosts in the Bahamas.

PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman has already indicated he will keep a close eye on Woods’ return and Pitt confirmed he would be an intrigued onlooker as well.

“Everyone’s intrigued to see how Tiger goes,” Pitt said.

“It’s too early to know what his schedule looks like and how much he’s going to want to play overseas. We’ve had this discussion internally with some people in the golf industry.

“Someone made the point, ‘I don’t think I would want Tiger’. But there’s always interest in Tiger. There’s heightened interest in him right now because everyone’s dying to see how he’s going to play and whether he’s going to be the same old Tiger.

“He last played the Open in 2011. I think everyone’s waiting with bated breath to see what he does. Will he be the same? Will his body hold up? I don’t know.

“I think for everyone he’s an amazing story. I think if you had Tiger in Australia he would have enormous appeal. He’s still Tiger Woods. The great thing about Tiger over the length of his career and why he was always a good investment is that he always performed.

“He always made cuts and he was always in contention. You look at his record in Australia and he won the Masters in ’09 and finished pretty high up in ’10, but didn’t win it. Then he was top four or five in the Open and there on Sunday with a chance.

“He was always there or thereabouts and that’s what you need with your international players.”

Woods’s ranking has drifted to 1193 during his injury-enforced absence. He lost top spot this week to Roger Federer on the list of sport’s greatest money winners.

Notwithstanding his fall from grace, Woods remains one of the highest profile athletes in the world. Such is that profile, he only needs to show glimpses of his best next week to pique the interest of tournament promoters.

The Australian Open has been blessed by the presence of Jordan Spieth in recent years but Pitt knows he can’t rely on the world No 2 forever. He only has to look at the absence of Scott, a loyal supporter of the Open, at The Australian Golf Club this week to realise there are no guarantees.

Scott will play the Australian PGA next week but has opted to sit out the Open for the first time in recent memory, leaving Jason Day as the local face of the tournament.

“Adam’s been a fantastic supporter of the tournament and I’m sure he’ll be back,” Pitt said.

“We always want Adam in the field. He’s another one that’s really popular and crowds love him. He’s such a genuine guy and he’s got that superstar quality about him.

As for Spieth, Pitt said he would wait until after the event before discussing next year. If Spieth decides to take a break from the Open, Phil Mickelson is among those on Golf Australia’s radar.

“Jordan’s played three in a row and you need think about are they still having cut through with the crowds?” Pitt said.

“Sydney crowds have really loved Jordan, and Rory McIlroy was really popular too.”

They’re the international players that have had a lot of cut-through. Tiger, when he was here in the President’s Cup year, you could see the crowds moving around him when he was on the range and then when he walked off the range they all followed Tiger.

“He’s still got that level of appeal. Phil ... hasn’t played an Australian Open as a professional and he would be one that would be interesting.

“He’s one and Dustin Johnson is probably one as the current No 1 in the world and he hits it so far. He’s exciting. The hottest one at the moment is Justin Thomas. He’s playing incredibly well, but he probably doesn’t have the profile of some of the others.”