[PHOTO: Maddie Meyer]
Because he has been an almost constant fixture at the elite end of the professional game since the start of this 21st century, it is sometimes easy to overlook just how much Adam Scott has achieved in golf. In fact, there isn’t much he hasn’t done. A major champion and former world No.1, Scott has a Players Championship and a World Cup win on his CV, as well as victories on five circuits: the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, the Asian Tour, the Australasian Tour and South Africa’s Sunshine Tour.
And at 44, the oldest man in the 50-strong field gathered in Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship (he currently sits T-9 after 54 holes at seven-under-par, five shots behind leaders Antoine Rozner, Rasmus Hojgaard and Rory McIlroy) is still getting it done. Scott is about to complete a season in which he has, at a time of competitive life when most players are entering inevitable decline, risen from 44th to 20th on the Official World Golf Ranking.
“Adam’s record is pretty outrageous,” says former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, Scott’s close friend. “There is an argument to be made that Sam Snead is the greatest golfer of all time because he was great longer than anyone else has ever been great. Adam is in a similar category. Over the past 25 years, he has always been relevant in tournaments. And he keeps getting better. For me, along with Sergio Garcia, he has been the best driver of a ball in what might be called the Tiger Woods Era.”
Ogilvy, clearly an unabashed Scott fan, goes as far as to rank his mate the fourth-best Australian golfer of all-time behind only Peter Thomson, Greg Norman and Karrie Webb.
Indeed, this season Scott has played a lot of good and near-great golf without actually winning a tournament. Runner-up finishes at both the BMW Championship and the Genesis Scottish Open represent his closest brushes with victory, although six other top-10s dot his record, including one at the Open Championship. So he remains competitive at the highest level.
“I see 2024 as having two distinct halves,” Scott says. “I always seem to play OK. I don’t ever play badly. I just hadn’t played great for a while, which was starting to get annoying. And that’s how the first six months of this year was. But I did find some confidence from the Scottish Open onwards. From there, I played to a very high standard.”
It is getting harder, though, Scott admits. “It’s not so much that I am 44. it is that there are so many other guys getting younger [laughs]. There are so many good players in their mid-20s now. So more than tapering off at my age, which many do, there are more young lads to take our place. And they play at a very high level on a regular basis, which again makes it harder for someone like me.”
Still, in moments of reflection, Scott has much to be proud of. His game, impressively, has always travelled well. The first and so far only Australian to win the Masters, the Queenslander who was born in South Australia also has a Players Championship to his name, as well as a World Cup victory alongside compatriot Jason Day.
Knowing all of the above, it will come as no surprise to hear that, in 2022, Scott was made a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to golf at the elite level”.
And he is far from done. Still long enough off the tee and still owning the requisite level of motivation, Scott reckons he has the capacity to be more than competitive in the biggest events for at least two more years.
“I am ticking a lot of boxes that allow me to believe I can be better,” he insists. “My speed is good, which is such a big part of the game today. And I’ve been injury-free for a long time. When I look at stats as a guide, there is a lot of solid stuff there. There is, however, one area that stands out – and not in a good way. Between 120-170 yards there is plenty of room for improvement.
“I think I can have my best year next year,” he goes on. “2024 was kind of a comeback year, from what I don’t know, maybe mediocrity, which has given me the chance to be really optimistic about next year. The next two years, really. If I can maintain my focus and confidence, I will hopefully be in position to win tournaments.”
More specifically, Scott remains both a high achiever and a man with high ambitions. Only one Australian man, former PGA and US Open champion David Graham, has ever won more than one of the four majors. So that is an obvious target.
“The reality is that we all get judged on how we play in the majors,” he says. “I’m probably not going to win 10. But to be a multiple major champion would be great. Dreaming big, I’d love to win the career Grand Slam. That’s only three events, albeit the right three. That motivates me. As do things like Bay Hill and the Memorial.”
Sadly, another on that to-do list – Scott’s own national Open title, which he claimed in 2009 – is one event he won’t see when it takes place two weeks from now.
“I’d love to win the Australian Open again,” he declares. “I wanted to play this year, but I’ve travelled so much already. I’m tired. To go there would add another two weeks to an already long year. So I’m ending my season here in the hope that will give myself a good chance to play well in 2025.”
On the evidence of the year about to end, there is every chance that he will do just that.
