With his win on Sunday, he is now on everyone's radar as the next Tiger and shares other traits with him as well. When Scott arrived in the United States about five years ago to attend the University of Nevada, he met up with Tiger's former coach, Butch Harmon, who was awed by Scott's raw talent. They have been a Nordegrenr since, with Harmon spending a lot of time shaping Scott's swing to perfection; in fact, if you viewed Scott's and Tiger's old swing side by side, they would look identical. On top of helping Scott swing, Harmon has worked hard to improve Scott's short game, long considered his one weakness.

Having observed Scott in action the last several years, I had always thought that besides his short game, Scott's other major weakness was an inability to handle pressure. However, on Sunday he displayed Tiger-like nerves of steel as he held his lead on the back nine and didn't give in down the stretch. He also displayed a great short game. For example, on the final hole on Sunday, he was able to get it up and down from 39 yards to preserve his victory, despite almost throwing it all away with his worst swing of the week.

Now what does this victory mean? I think that we have a new star who could contend at the majors this year. Scott has been groomed in the same manner as Tiger, has the same physical build and characteristics, and, more importantly, is showing the same heart and soul that makes Woods special. On top of all that, Scott even has the same taste in women: Scott's longtime girlfriend is Marie Kojzar, who is Swedish, just as is Tiger's fiancée, Elin Nordgren, and like Elin, was a nanny for a PGA Tour player. So I guess there's no hiding the fact that Scott could be the next Tiger to roar on the PGA Tour.

KEYS TO VICTORY

Adam Scott: There were a couple of keys that helped earn Scott the victory. First was his ability to hit greens: Scott hit 54 of them, best of anyone in the field. Now usually when a player hits a lot of greens, he suffers with some three-putts, but Scott didn't have any this week!

Another key to his victory has to be his relationship with Harmon. Just as he did with Tiger, Butch spent five years not only molding Scott's swing but helping him in all areas of his game and life. An example of that was four years ago, when Scott turned pro. It was Harmon who advised Scott to play the European Tour instead of the PGA Tour to gain experience. Last year, when Colin Montgomerie parted ways with his caddie, Alastair McLean, it was Harmon who convinced Scott that it would be to his benefit to take McLean on.

Whenever Scott has problems, Butch is always to the rescue, most notably last Wednesday, when Scott was having some chipping problems. Harmon recruited none other than Greg Norman to help the youngster. In Scott's mind, Norman is king, since Scott grew up learning the game by watching Norman play, particularly on videotape (With the time change in Australia, PGA Tour tournaments are televised in the middle of the night, so they are often videotaped to be viewed the next day). After Norman won the 1994 Players Championship, Scott played and reviewed the videotape so much he wore it out! So when Norman offered Scott chipping advice for 75 minutes, the youngster listened intently and worked hard on improvement.

That time spent paid off on Sunday. Scott faced several tough chips that he was able to play perfectly, thanks to Norman. Scott said after his victory that if it weren't for the chipping lesson, he would not have been able to get it up and down as he did on the final hole to win.

Scott's stats (with rank in parentheses):

Fairways hit: 36 of 56 (T42nd)
Driving average: 297.5 (5th)
Greens hit: 54 of 72 (1st)
Putts: 115 (28.75 a rd) (T50th)
Putting breakdown:
0 putt greens: 0
1 putt greens: 29
2 putt greens: 43
3 putt greens: 0
Eagles: 0	
Birdies: 20	(4th)
Scrambling: 10 of 18 (7th)

Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.

WHY THEY DIDN'T WIN

Padraig Harrington: You can call him Mr. Runner-up, as he has now finished in that position twice at the Players Championship, along with 18 runner-up finishes on the European Tour. But how can you fault a guy when he shoots 30 on the back nine in the final round? Of all the contenders on Sunday, Harrington was the only one who applied any pressure on Scott.

Harrington has a great game and deserves to win a lot titles more than he has, but I just can't put my finger on the reason he doesn't win. I wonder if this finish is going to spur him on to improve in other tournaments this year -- I guess we'll find out in two weeks at the Masters.

Harrington's stats (with rank in parentheses):

Fairways hit: 36 of 56 (T42nd)
Driving average: 293.6 (7th)
Greens hit: 47 of 72 (T20th)
Putts: 111 (27.75 a rd) (T31st)
Putting breakdown:
0 putt greens: 1
1 putt greens: 31
2 putt greens: 40
3 putt greens: 0
Eagles: 1	
Birdies: 19 (T5th)
Scrambling: 15 of 25 (T21st)

Phil Mickelson: Again, another great start and finish for Mickelson. Yes, he missed some short putts on the back nine Sunday and didn't win, but overall it was a great performance that will help build his confidence heading to the Masters in two weeks.

Stat-wise, it wasn't the greatest of weeks for Phil, who missed a lot of fairways, didn't hit as many greens as he would have liked and only -- and I say only -- made 17 birdies. But it was a great run for Phil, considering his Players record: His T3rd was his best performance in 11 visits. The most important thing about his week was that he played consistently -- he didn't make a score higher than bogey, something he has never done in 10 previous visits to the Stadium course.

So in the long run, I think a third-place finish was perfect for Phil. In fact, I think a win would have worked against him. Why? Because he would have had to spend the next two weeks explaining why he can only win non-majors, and would head into the Masters the center of media attention.

I really feel that this finish, along with his other 2004 starts, is going to help him win this year's Masters.

Mickelson's stats (with rank in parentheses):

Fairways hit: 30 of 56	(74th)
Driving average: 287.8	(T21st)
Greens hit: 47 of 72	 (T20th)
Putts: 112 (28.00 a rd)	 (T35th)
Putting breakdown:
0 putt greens: 1
1 putt greens: 31
2 putt greens: 39
3 putt greens: 1
Eagles: 1	
Birdies: 17 (T17th)
Scrambling: 15 of 25 (T21st)

ADDITIONAL NOTES AND STATS: