Can Scott’s 23rd PGA Championship appearance be his best?
Adam Scott – in action during practice this week – image PGA of America Maddie Meyer
Adam Scott will play his 23rd PGA Championship when he tees it up at Oak Hill this week and while there have been only six top tens with a best of 3rd (twice) in those previous 22 starts, he enters this week’s event with his game in good enough shape to add another top ten and perhaps something better.
Adding to his chances is the fact that in 2013, when Scott last played the Oak Hill Country Club, he finished 5th behind Jason Dufner and while the layout has been restored to more of its 1920’s origins since, the Donald Ross designed examination might provide Scott with further cause for optimism.
Scott, Jason Day and Cameron Smith appear to hold Australia’s only chances of victory in the event and while it has taken several events for Scott’s game to peak in 2023, it now appears very close to it with top ten finishes in each of his last two starts. With a game built around the sort of demands the brute of a layout that Oak Hill will offer, the idea of a second major title for the Queenslander is not unrealistic.
Scott’s 5th place at the Wells Fargo Championship was particularly impressive on what was a very demanding Quail Hollow layout and after his 8th place finish last week in Dallas he gave an indication as to just where he is at with his game.
“I think you just move a little slower as you’re a bit older, but this is the time of year you want to be playing good. Ideally you kind of start playing really great in March, but it’s six or eight weeks later and there’s still a lot of big golf coming up with the PGA right in front of my mind.”
During the recent Wells Fargo Championship he also sent out signals that his game was coming around when interviewed after 54 holes there.
“Yeah, I feel like last year I really worked hard to kind of climb myself back into a good spot and this year has been slow to get going, calendar year-wise certainly. This is the best performance for three days of a tournament so far, so I’m looking for a really good back half of this season.
Scott, Smith and Day are Australia’s three male major championship winners over the last fifteen years and all three are some consideration in this week’s event but the manner in which Scott has been going about his business of late suggests he could well add a second major title to the one he so magnificently won at Augusta National ten years ago.