Is Scott Tiger’s next rival?

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The golf world is waiting to see if the game’s twentysomething opposites attract.

If you believe the players and the pundits, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are on a collision course. Perhaps, they’ll meet at the top of this week’s Masters’ leader board. Perhaps that meeting will occur months hence at the top of the world rankings. But nearly everyone in the know feels a clash is forthcoming.

“Adam’s the next superstar,” said Greg Norman after the 23-year-old Scott became the youngest man to win the Players Championship, golf’s unofficial fifth major, two weeks ago. “I’m proud of him as an Australian, and I’m proud of him as a golfer. I think he’s technically better than Tiger Woods was at 23. He needs a bit of confidence, a couple of victories under his belt, and he can be doing what Tiger’s done the last four or five years. I really believe that.”

If you think Norman’s brain is clouded by a case of the Waltzing Matildas, consider Johnny Miller’s take on the wiry Australian youngster during NBC’s final-round broadcast of the Players Championship:

“I think golf fans had better get used to this young man. … I haven’t seen anybody swinging the club like this since 2000.”

The famously brusque Miller dispenses compliments about as often as Fred Funk misses a fairway. But if you don’t fancy the credibility of the broadcaster, listen to who 2000 Masters champion Vijay Singh nominated yesterday when asked to make his pick for this week’s 68th grind among the pines:

“I played with Adam Scott the first two days at Bay Hill, and, you know, he’s hitting the ball incredibly well,” said Singh, who’s usually less effusive than a range ball. “He’s one guy that stands out in my mind.”

Fact is, Scott is the hottest player on the planet, a onetime comer who has clearly arrived. In eight starts on the PGA Tour and in Europe this season, Scott has collected five top-10 finishes, highlighted by his performance against the season’s best field at the Players Championship. On Sunday at Sawgrass, Scott overcame Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and a potential confidence-crippling, 72nd-hole gaffe in the most dramatic finish of the season short of Craig Parry’s deuce (Doral).

After baptizing a 5-iron approach in the lake left of the 18th green, an error in the clutch of Normanesque proportions, Scott calmly wedged a lengthy chip to within 10 feet of the hole and then dead-centered the gut-twisting bogey putt for a one-stroke victory.

“Honestly, I was over the pulled approach about a second after I saw it splash,” said Scott yesterday. “I knew it was just a chip and a putt, and that would be that. That’s not to say that I couldn’t have messed it up, just that it never occurred to me that I would.”

Perhaps that extraordinary, if understated, confidence is one of the few characteristics the seemingly laconic Scott shares with the ultra-intense Woods.

A native of Adelaide, Scott grew up in Queensland as the son of a club pro. Ironically, it was not his father who pushed him toward golf. Scott idolized Norman and patterned his swing after the Shark’s action, building his game alone on the range. Without any serious professional assistance, Scott was setting course records and collecting junior titles at age 15. At 17, he won the 1997 World Junior title in California by 15 strokes. At 19, he bucked Australian convention and eschewed the famed Victoria Institute of Sport for a scholarship offer at UNLV.

Although the diversity of college life didn’t suit the single-minded Scott, it was during his year at UNLV where he was introduced to Las Vegas-based swing coach Butch Harmon and Harmon’s then-star pupil, Tiger Woods.

“Through Butch, I had the opportunity to meet Tiger, play with Tiger and, most importantly, to watch Tiger,” Scott said yesterday. “It was like looking at a blueprint of what was required to be the best.”

After one year under Harmon’s tutelage at UNLV, Scott turned pro at 19 and headed to Europe to “learn how to win at the professional level.” He won once on the European Tour in 2001 (Alfred Dunhill Championship) and twice in 2002 (Qatar Masters, Scottish PGA Championship), earning him exemptions into the majors and the World Golf Championships.

His unofficial coming-out party occurred in one of the latter, when he pushed Woods for 19 holes in the semifinals of the 2003 World Match Play before eventually succumbing to the game’s goliath. Despite the competitive confidence he gleaned from the match, Scott’s near-miss against Woods at La Costa highlighted the primary weakness in his game — a tendency to let his right hand overwhelm his stroke on short putts.

“I knew my ball-striking was good enough to play out here with anybody, but my putting, and really my whole short game, was near to abominable,” said Scott. “Improving that was my primary goal last season. And now I’m reaping the rewards of that work.”

Late last season, Scott recorded his breakthrough PGA Tour win in the inaugural Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, burying the field with rounds of 69-62-67-66. And he’s been blazing ever since. His victory at the Players Championship elevated him to No.12 in the world. And given his form and past success at the Masters (T9 in 2002 and T23 last season), Ladbrokes has given him 20-1 odds to win this week, fifth best in the field.

“There’s no doubt that Adam has the game to win here,” Harmon said yesterday. “He hits a high, long ball, has exceptional distance control with his irons and a vastly improved short game.”

Perhaps as importantly, Scott has Harmon. Unlike Woods, who split with Harmon and tends to eschew most professional attachments, Scott has spent his career seeking out help. From Harmon to Woods to Norman and veteran caddie Alastair McLean (formerly Colin Montgomerie’s man), Scott has long thrived on input from without.

“You can’t wall yourself off,” Scott said. “There’s certainly such a thing as too much input, but feedback from those I trust — Butch, Greg, Alastair — is invaluable. You filter in what you think applies and let it mold you.”

Only time will tell if that evolving product will give golf what it’s been desperately seeking since 1997 — a life rival for Woods.

“It’s too early for rivalry talk,” said Scott. “But at the same time, I’m not afraid to say that I want that top spot … his spot.”