Adam Scott turns 40 in July. But he plans to make this next chapter of his career the best one yet.
Adam Scott always knew the Presidents Cup boost was coming. He just didn’t think it was going to come the week after Royal Melbourne. Scott travelled – dejected but inspired – from Royal Melbourne to Royal Pines after the Internationals’ close loss to the Americans. A week later, he had won the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast for his first victory worldwide in almost four years.
In nine appearances for the Internationals, the biennial Presidents Cup had never failed to catapult Scott to new heights – or rescue him from the doldrums. Competing alongside Ernie Els in South Africa in 2003 launched Scott’s career. Six years later, a captain’s pick from his idol Greg Norman lifted Scott out of his worst slump as a professional.
You may wonder what funk Scott needs to escape from now, if any. For 2018-2019 was a successful season for Scott. He contended heavily in every Major except – rather uncharacteristically – the Open Championship. He recorded top-10 results in nine of his 18 PGA Tour starts. Among those were second-place finishes at Torrey Pines and Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village with a 72-hole score that would have won at least the previous eight editions of both events. But both times he was beaten by a record-setting winner.
As Scott begins his 2020 season, it isn’t a slump he needs to overcome. Not at all. Rather, it’s a period of reflection on his career as he nears age 40 (July 16).
Has the Sunshine Coaster with the flawless swing lived up to expectations – fair or unfair – as Australia’s male successor to Greg Norman? Is he happy with a remarkable career that has delivered 13 PGA Tour victories including a historic Masters win at Augusta National?
Only Scott can answer that question.
“Well, I think I should have been a multiple Major winner by now,” Scott tells Australian Golf Digest with trademark unpolished honesty. “I really want to be one. I’ve had the chances and I haven’t got it done.”
“I should have been a multiple Major winner by now.”
But Scott is not ruling out achieving his dream. Particularly given he has remained largely uninjured, unlike younger current stars such as Jason Day, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, to name a few.
“I think I can achieve more in the next five years of my career than the past 10,” says the world No.6.
The Cup of Life
Before the 2019 Presidents Cup, Scott predicted many among the International team would go to another level in their own careers after experiencing the pressure cauldron of the biennial event. Competing against a star-studded American team on a global stage where every point counts can turn boys into men, Scott says.
He was shattered at the Internationals’ 16-14 loss at Royal Melbourne. Particularly given this edition was set up to be their best chance to win since the Internationals’ only triumph in 1998.
But Scott used the loss as motivation while securing a second Australian PGA crown one week later in Queensland. It ended a winless drought that stretched back to March 2016. He admitted he feared he’d never win again during that span.
“At the Presidents Cup, you take a lot of high-level competitive experience out of it,” Scott says. “That event really makes you sharpen your game just to be able to win a match, let alone be a contributing member of the team. You can go months on the PGA Tour without being in that position, or having that kind of pressure.”
Weeks later, Presidents Cup debutant Cameron Smith won the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii for his first individual win on the American circuit. Two tournaments later, Marc Leishman lifted the Farmers Insurance Open trophy at California’s famed Torrey Pines.
“It’s not surprising to see Leish and Cam win; I’ve seen it before from guys coming off a solid Presidents Cup performance,” Scott adds. “That was me [in 2009]. I knew that once the boys (Leishman and Smith) were in a position to win this year, that they would. It’s pleasing to see.”
Ending a PGA Tour drought
Scott came painfully close to significant victories last year, in Majors and regular events, without having that extra gear to get it done. He held a share of the 36-hole lead at Augusta, only to be one of two players in the top-25 on the leaderboard (countryman Day being the other) who failed to break par during round three. He contended at the PGA Championship at Bethpage before fading away, again on Saturday afternoon. At the US Open, Scott went deeper into the thick of the Sunday action at Pebble Beach, only to make a series of errors late on the back nine.
If the man himself had to put a finger on what the anchor was, it was the driver. His distance was solid, averaging 273.7 metres (299.3 yards) off the tee. But it was accuracy that hurt him, ranking a lowly 135th and hitting just 59.9 per cent of fairways. His season was built on iron play (fourth in strokes gained: approach), short game (10th) and putting (31st ).
“I don’t think I drove it as well as I could have last year,” Scott says. “It wasn’t shocking, but it should be a strength for me and it wasn’t a strength last year. It was just OK. I’d like to see improvement there. I know I can drive it better.”
Of course, the drought in America broke when he captured the Genesis Invitational outside Los Angeles in February, using a second-round 64 to notch a two-stroke victory – the 14th of his PGA Tour career.
Work/life balance
Scott could be forgiven for taking his foot off the pedal after an already stellar career. Not to mention the fact he and wife Marie have two children entering, and nearing, school age. But Scott is unsatisfied with 14 PGA Tour wins, including becoming the first Australian to don the Masters green jacket. In fact, Scott’s reflections suggest his pride in what he has accomplished is matched by a feeling of underachievement.
“I certainly feel I should have won more by this stage; more Majors particularly,” he says.
“But I really believe the next five years of my career are going to be the best yet. My iron play is close to its best. My short game is probably better than it has ever been. My putting last year was the best it has been in 15 years but I really feel it’s only going to improve even more.
“I think at this point in my career, it’s not that difficult an equation for me to put it all together once I’m in a good spot.”
Should the Majors actually be staged in 2020, Scott is confident he can “put it together” in three of the Major venues this year: Augusta National, PGA Championship host TPC Harding Park and US Open venue Winged Foot.
“I think Harding Park and Winged Foot fit right in my ballpark, to be honest with you,” Scott continues. “That’s where I’d love to have my game off the tee in good shape. If I can do that, I will be a threat in those Majors. If I can hit a few more fairways at 300 yards, I’ll be in really good shape.
“And then, The Open I just love in general. I love the challenge of links golf. I feel I have a good understanding of links golf and have had some great chances to lift the claret jug,” add Scott, referencing the fact he held at least a share of the lead during the back nine of three Opens between 2012 and 2015. That includes losing a four-shot lead with four to play on Sunday in 2012. Prior to that run was a tie for 25th in 2011, the last time Royal St George’s hosted The Open.
“Royal St George’s is a really interesting links; it’s not as straight-forward as, say, Portrush last year. It has a lot of undulation in the fairways and it can kick your drive from one side of a fairway to the other.
“It’s links golf with a twist; you need the right bounce, here and there, but it all works out if you hit a lot of good shots over 72 holes.”
Of course, Augusta National will likely always be the Major venue where Scott feels most at ease. As a past champion, but also as a sublime ball-striker. For the first time in four years, he will go to Augusta with at least a European Tour co-sanctioned win under his belt.
“I hope so; I hope I have good reason to go into Augusta feeling confident,” Scott says. “I’m always excited to go there, anyway. But I’d like to piece together a few nice tournaments leading into the Masters.”
Scott has tweaked his schedule to once again focus on peaking for the four Majors and the Players Championship, which he won in 2004. Scott played the World Golf Championships event in Mexico City for the first time since it moved there in 2017. Before it became one of the nine tournaments cancelled (so far) due to the coronavirus pandemic, he had also planned to contest the WGC–Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas, after a four-year absence.
“My schedule this year is certainly about peaking for the five biggest events,” Scott says. “The PGA Tour had a significant schedule change last year and it was about learning how to work around that. Now I have a good handle on it, it’s easier for me to look further ahead and try to peak at the right time.
“I’d like to get into contention before Augusta, ideally I’d like to win a tournament and get those feelings going to the Masters. But I just need to have a really solid run; I’m looking for some good golf. I feel if I can get myself in contention, I can make a victory happen.”
