1 week ago
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As Australia’s Adam Scott prepares to join golf legend Jack Nicklaus as the only people to have played 100 consecutive majors, he can’t help but dwell on the fact he has won just one major.
“Even with my math, I can figure the strike rate out,” Scott said ahead of this week’s US Open. “I’d love a better record for sure. I’d love to be a multiple major champion.”
In many ways, Scott’s frustration is understandable.
He was world No.1 for 11 weeks in 2014. He has won 14 PGA Tour events. His golf swing is as attractive as an ocean view, and he has the durability of a Tuckeroo tree.
But the fact remains, that famous play-off victory in 2013 when he became the first – and to date only – Australian to have won the US Masters, stands alone as his only win in a major tournament.
Scott’s quest to put another trophy next to his green Masters jacket has helped him to stay motivated playing the maddening game of golf, despite the crushing disappointment of being so close yet so far on many occasions.
“Deep down, I probably have an incredible amount of pride in my work. Along with that, I’ve had a fairly disciplined focus of trying to achieve all my dreams in the game, which is winning multiple majors and other events. In the tougher moments, that’s what’s got me through,” Scott said.
“I’m almost too proud to fall off the map or fail. Of course, I fail on a weekly basis when you don’t win but, understanding the game, you know that’s not going to happen every week ... I’m proud [to have] maintained this level of intensity for 25 years.”
Scott was runner-up in the 2011 Masters and blew his chance to win the British Open in 2012 when he led by four shots with four holes to play only to lose by one stroke to South African Ernie Els after dropping five shots in the final four holes. But he kept coming, winning the Masters the next season. His consistency saw him start in the final group at last year’s US Open before horrendous weather destroyed his last round.
He has finished in the top 10 on 20 occasions (including his win) and missed the cut 22 times – a professional hazard – but his round-after-round consistency has won him the admiration of his peers.
Scott has an interesting take when it comes to that consistency. He suspects it has lost its lustre as his career has progressed, with few valuing that trait as they did when he started out.
“It’s a changing society. It’s not just golf. Everything’s Insta this and Insta that, and did you play any good last week? That’s kind of what counts,” Scott said.
“I see a big shift from when I was learning the game in my teenage years and looking up to professionals – consistency was revered. Of course, I wanted to shoot low scores and make a lot of birdies, but definitely the best players were the most consistent players.
“The top players are still incredibly consistent, but we are all shooting for such a high standard, and the reality is four to six weeks a year everyone has their best scores, and those who are slow and steady don’t win this race very much any more, so consistency or longevity is less desirable today.”
That doesn’t mean Scott’s record doesn’t resonate in the golfing world. The 45-year-old says it has raised more discussion among his compatriots than most golfing subjects do, with praise even coming from his peers for the achievement.
When Scott bumped into Jack Nicklaus – who played 146 majors straight and won 18 majors – in Ohio at the Memorial tournament a fortnight ago, the golfing legend passed on his congratulations as they discussed longevity in the game.
Then “the Golden Bear” subtly put Scott in his place.
“I said, ‘Don’t worry, I think your record’s pretty safe’, and he told me, ‘I know’,” Scott said with a wry grin.
“Maybe that can be good motivation.”
Scott now surfs less than he would like and has discarded the pushbike for the bands and cables that feature in his golf-oriented fitness regime – an indication of the work he is putting in to hole a putt that wins him another major.
He heads to New York’s Shinnecock Hills Golf Club with his damned putter behaving itself after he finished 12th at his most recent PGA Tour outing, and with the desire burning to turn one major win into two.
“It’s going to be brutally difficult, no doubt, and test everyone’s patience,” Scott said. “But these are the weeks where I feel [that] any adverse conditions or mental tests is where some of this experience can pay off.”
Four other Australians – Jason Day, Lucas Herbert, Min Woo Lee and Cam Smith – will be alongside him in what should be a celebration of Australian golf, regardless of the result.
If Scott doesn’t pick up the winner’s trophy at another major, he always has his Masters victory to reflect upon, as well as the awe-inspiring feat of playing in every major held for a quarter of a century.
It’s probably an indication of how hard he can be on himself that he concedes he should reflect on that historic 2013 win more often.
“I think about the level of my golf at that time. [It] was really outstanding, and I also think [of] the determination I had around that time to make the most of that good play,” Scott said.
“I was pushing myself quite hard to get there, and it happened at the Masters.
“Looking back at it, I’m actually a little surprised I haven’t really got it going around Augusta as well since winning, and it’s not for a lack of trying.”
He has only finished in the top 10 once (in 2017) at the Masters since his victory, but he is starting to smell the roses a little, relishing the opportunity to have his three children Bo Vera, Byron and Bjorn, join him on course for Augusta’s par-three tournament, and to watch him play.
But when he tees it up this week, he can say he has gone where only Nicklaus has been before, a streak of consecutive majors which won’t be matched for at least a decade, with Jordan Spieth’s 52 straight appearances the second-longest active streak.
And Scott won’t be just showing up. He wants to win.
“I feel like, physically and mentally, I’m still in a good enough place to contend and get across the line, but a few things need to go your way,” he said.
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