Adam Scott Could Burst The “Bubble”
Adam Scott understands just how hard it is to win on TOUR. Almost everyone who competes in the FedExCup Playoffs has to play through at least one collapse, sometimes two. With the Presidents Cup one month away, this tournament is an opportunity for Scott to finally give himself a victory after all of the disappointment he’s felt over the past couple of years. It’s been more than two years since last winning a TOUR event and it feels even longer ago since that win came at Riviera–an event that took place a month before COVID-19 was released and started a pandemic.
After the regular season, Scott had two missed cuts but a lower rank of the FedExCup points too. He started well in Playoffs by finishing T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week. During the BMW Championship in South Africa, on Thursday, his first top-10 round after Genesis this week was on a 6-under 65.
After briefly reaching No. 45 in the FedExCup, Scott knows one swallow doesn’t make a summer. To reclaim his spot in the top 30 and earn a tee time at East Lake, where he won the TOUR Championship in 2006 12 months before the inaugural FedExCup was created, he will need to shake up the leaderboard.
Keegan Bradley held a 12-hole card at the Wyndham Championship at 64, while Scott had a 14-hole card at 66. Scott jumped to 13th in the standings following the first day of play.
This week, Scott had the same situation. He was tired of not playing well and started this tournament with a different approach by focusing solely on golf. In an effort to regain his previous level of skill, he only focused on that game. He also generated sufficient focus on his effort to win the tournament. The focus of learning how to hit the ball good helped him launch back into winning tournaments earlier in his career.
Scott’s putter has been clutch during this postseason. That club is now becoming an asset in his bag, as it isn’t a liability anymore.
Despite scoring the third best round of the week, Scott acknowledged that he did not play at his highest level on Sunday. He ended the week with a 67 and an overall round average score of 70. His Strokes Gained: Putting for the season ranked 45th a year ago and he recorded 3.625 shots on the field on the greens – second highest on Tour this week only to Bradley Northcott’s 4. He admits his confidence is higher going into any event having had a result like this after struggling all four days prior.
Scott has been to 8 events at East Lake in the FedExCup era but it’s been 3 years since he last played an event there. If he makes it back, he’ll be one of only 9 players to accomplish what Erik van Rooyen did last year.
Scott said that, no matter where you are in the Playoffs, it is possible to have a couple good weeks. He chuckled and added, “For three days more,” after realizing that he had just let his guard down. Scott then broke into a wry smile and shared more details about how he would approach the rest of the race.