Scott, Sim to shine at Coolum: Senior

Grand campaigner Peter Senior believes Adam Scott's career is about to take off
after being weighed downed by hopes he'd be Australia's next Greg Norman.

Senior, who last week produced an amazing effort to top the US Seniors qualifying
school in Arizona, tipped Scott and fellow young gun Michael Sim to star at this
week's $1.5 million Australian PGA Championship at the re-designed Hyatt Regency
resort at Coolum.
Scott ended his frustrating domestic drought last weekend with a runaway five shot
win in the Australian Open at a testing NSW Golf Club.
A 26-time world-wide winner, Senior believes Scott is now on the verge of delivering
what he promised when tagged too soon as the next Norman.
"Adam just needs the opportunity to win the right tournament at the right time, win
a major and mate, I guarantee you he'll be a force in world golf," said Senior.
"I would expect Adam to go right on with it from here."
If Scott backs up his Open victory, he'll head back to the US early next year with
his confidence sky high.
He was ranked No.3 in the world in March last year before crashing out of the top 50
before his Open win shot him back to No.34.
As fellow professional Mathew Goggin noted on Tuesday, it wasn't a David Duval like
crash.
But it was bad enough from a player so highly regarded to ring alarm bells.
However a show of faith by Norman, who selected his out-of-form prodigy as one of
his captain's choices in the International team for the Presidents Cup, was pivotal
in Scott turning his woes around.
"All credit to him, he's copped a lot of criticism over the last few months,
especially his selection in the Presidents Cup," said Senior, who pulled off the
Open-PGA Championship double in 1989.
It's a massive week also for young West Australian Sim.
He needs to hang onto or improve his current world ranking of 50 by the end of the
tournament to guarantee a dream appearance in next year's US Masters at Augusta.
Scottish-born Sim, a former world junior No.1, is coming off a super year on the US
Nationwide Tour, securing his tour card with three victories.
"You can see the quality of the guy, how he toils away when things aren't going well
for him," said Senior.
"I can only see big things for him in the future.
Sim lent his house to Senior in Scottsdale for two weeks while the Queenslander
played the US qualifying school.
"Usually it's the older guys helping out the young guys so it was great he offered,"
said Senior.
"We scrubbed his carpet, washed his sheets and tidied up because single guys are
pretty messy."
Senior, who had a poor Australian Open last week, could prove to be old dog at
Coolum around a course which requires more accuracy than power.
"I'd played some great golf leading up to the US qualifying school but I'd have to
search a long way back to find when I played as badly as I did last week," he said.
"It was probably a let down because I'd really keyed myself up for the US stuff.
"But this is another week and you never know."
Sim currently heads the Australasian Tour's order of merit from which the top two
money earners at the end of the year have provisional entry into next year's US and
British Opens.
Sim ($258,087) would need to miss the cut to blow his chances of finishing top two
on the order of merit.
Australia will have 18 players competing on the lucrative US Tour next year
including Sim, James Nitties, David Lutterus, Jason Day and Cameron Percy, five less
than last year.