Australia’s Adam Scott has played 49 Presidents Cup games since his first appearance in 2003. He alone has more experience than all of Team USA’s players combined, who have played a combined 47 games.
Published at 11:12 a.m.
Even though he will don the international team cap for the 11e Scott has never won the event. In his baptism of fire 21 years ago at the Francourt Hotel country club in South Africa, the international team drew the mighty Americans. Since then, Scott has been on the losing team nine times in a row.
“A lot has changed this year,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Even though the 44-year-old has shared the battlefield with great champions like Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Nick Price in 2003, he said: “We have the strongest team this year.” In his opinion, since Ernie Els took over as captain in 2019, “things are going in a good direction and it’s just positive.”
In return, Els admitted that Scott’s contribution to this team has a lot to do with it.
“Adam is like a captain,” the 54-year-old assistant captain said. “His blood color is the color of the international team. He’s always played very tough games against the people to my left,” he said, pointing to his counterparts on Team USA, “but he always accepts the challenges. He wants to play every game.”
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
International team assistant captain Ernie Els
Big Easy took Scott under his wing in 2003 and since then, the four-time major champion believes Scott has truly represented the essence of golf outside of the United States. “People from all over dream of playing on the PGA Tour today,” Els continued.
However, on the field, Scott has won just 18 of his 49 games. “I obviously want to improve my record this year.”
The second oldest player on the international team is fellow Australian Jason Day, who is eight years his junior. And the youngest player, Tom Kim, was just a year old when Scott made his Presidents Cup debut. “I don’t know if I’ll get another chance to play in the tournament. So it’s a big week for me. But I’m optimistic because I’ve never felt more comfortable with this team coming into the tournament.”
Redemption
Even as the years pile up, Scott has earned his place on the international roster in the best possible way, finishing fourth in the world rankings among international players. Finishing the PGA Tour season in 17e place in the world ranking, he automatically obtained his ticket for the Montreal tournament.
In 2024, Scott did not collect any wins, but he did finish in the top 10in addition to missing the weekend rounds only twice in 19 tournaments. The 2013 Masters winner also finished in 10e position at the most recent British Open.
“Being part of the team was a huge motivation for me at the end of the season. I wanted to finish in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup, but I especially wanted to avoid placing Mike [Weir] in a tough position. I didn’t want him to have the pressure of picking an old player. I also wanted to show him what I was capable of, that I still had some good golf in me.”
In the end-of-season championship a few weeks ago, Scott finished second in the BMW Championship and fourth in the Circuit Championship.
Team USA’s Xander Schauffele said any golfer with Scott’s history in this type of tournament would be driven by that same motivation. “Usually, for me anyway, the more strokes I get, the stronger I come back. So if I were him, after 10 tournaments without a win, I would come back stronger than ever.”
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Xander Schauffele
But as a rival and friend, he hopes his streak continues. “I don’t feel bad for Adam Scott at all,” he said with a smirk. “I like Adam Scott a lot, but I don’t feel sorry for him. In fact, I don’t think any man feels bad for Adam Scott!”
Finish in style
Asked if he anticipates or visualizes the moment when he will finally be on the winning side of the Presidents Cup, Scott said he doesn’t know what kind of feeling that would bring. “I think about it, obviously. I think guys like Hideki [Matsuyama] and Jason [Day] also. It’s a feat we’ve never achieved. I think even if I answered the question, I might underestimate the emotional toll we would face.”
A professional since 2000, this accomplished major champion and winner of 14 tournaments on the PGA Tour nevertheless retains the feeling that his career will be incomplete if he does not one day triumph at the Presidents Cup.
“That’s really what motivates me the most at this point in my career. It would be easy to let it go, because maybe I’ve done enough to have a great career, but I firmly believe that there’s still a line missing from my resume.”
