Adam Scott Looks To Repeat At Akron's Bridgestone Invitational

On the same day President Obama was speaking to a crowd of thousands at the John S. Knight Center, the best golfers in the world were preparing to hit the links only a few minutes down I-77.

The PGA's annual World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational is taking place this weekend at Akron's Firestone Country Club, where a field of 78 golfers will compete for a $1.4 million first-place haul. Defending champion Adam Scott spoke to the media on the final practice day before the first round tees off Thursday morning. Scott, who has yet to win a PGA event since his victory last year in Akron, is coming off a devastating collapse at the British Open two weekends ago. With a four stroke advantage and only four holes remaining in his final round, Scott squandered his lead to Ernie Els, missing his best opportunity thus far in his career at winning a major championship.

But in spite of the disappointing loss, Scott was in relatively high spirits at Bridgestone on Wednesday, contending that there is more good to take away from his British Open experience than there is bad.

“I'm obviously playing well,” said the native Australian. “I should be confident here (in Akron) and try and build my own confidence and pick up some momentum as we come into a really important stretch of the year.”

The Bridgestone marks the final test before next weekend's PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, the final major championship of the year.

If Scott does manage to pull off a back-to-back victory come this Sunday, he will be only the second repeat winner at Firestone since the event became part of the World Golf Championships in 1999. Tiger Woods is the other golfer to win more than once at this competition, nabbing seven victories in the past 12 years at Akron (the 2002 tournament was held in Washington state).

And even with his missteps at the British Open still fresh in his mind, Scott is concentrating on looking forward and defending his throne against the likes of Woods, Els, Phil Mickelson and the rest of the field this weekend.

“It's a great event. It's something that was a big win for me last year and brought a lot of confidence,” said Scott on playing Bridgestone. “It's really a result driven industry, and that's why we play — to win.”

Scott tees off his first round Thursday morning at 9:40 a.m. For more tee times and info about this year's WGC-Bridgestone, check out their website.

For updates on the tournament this weekend, follow me on Twitter at @Williams_Justin.