Adam Scott has fallen agonisingly short of a first PGA Tour victory in four years, but a stunning return to form means he’ll remarkably be the sole Australian representative at this week’s lucrative Tour Championship.
The Australian veteran only just snuck into the field in the 50th and final spot for the prestigious BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club — the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup playoffs — but he finished tied second on Monday (AEST) behind American champion Keegan Bradley.
It continued a stunning form revival for the 44-year-old, although he was somewhat rueing missing a golden chance to end his title drought having led the field by three shots after the second round.
Scott struggled badly with his putter over the final two rounds, however he never fell out of the fight for victory — taking the battle with Bradley right down to the 18th green.
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The US veteran had to hold his nerve to close out the victory after Scott matched his birdie on the 17th and gave himself a look at another with a brilliant approach shot from the sand on 18.
Bradley, though, was able to two-putt for par to close out his second BMW Championship victory having won the tournament in 2018.
Scott was always chasing after a run of three-straight bogeys to start the back nine. But, like he did after a poor start in the third round, he rallied to keep himself in the fight.
The Australian has struggled with putting at times throughout his career but has made significant improvements in recent years, however some old demons returned this weekend.
“It wasn’t quite the roller coaster that Saturday was, but 10, 11, 12 kind of blew it for me there. I was in position with wedges on every hole and made three bogeys. That’s almost unthinkable, really,” Scott said.
“I definitely struggled on the greens on the weekend. Just didn’t quite have the confidence in some of those putts.
“I generally played fairly well. I thought I played well off the tee today, which was nice. But just didn’t take advantage from there.
“It’s amazing it came down to one shot, but I felt like my bogeys on 10, 11, 12 gave Keegan a bit of breathing space, and the pressure wasn’t really on him, and he didn’t make any mistakes.”
Scott’s even par 72 put him tied at 11 under with American Sam Burns (65) and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (71).
Aussie Cam Davis fired brilliant final round 66 to rocket up the leaderboard and be tied fifth.
Davis, like compatriot Jason Day, will just miss the final 30-man Tour Championship — boasting a prize pool of $US100m — but Scott’s run of great results means he will qualify in 14th spot, putting him in the mix for the whopping $US25 million first prize.
“I’m disappointed not to have won today, but I’m pretty happy to be going to East Lake because that wasn’t on the cards a couple weeks ago. I’ve played well,” Scott said.
“You know, after a couple days of rest and getting my head into next week, it’ll be fun to go and have a couple good rounds.
“… A lot can happen in a few weeks out here, and all of a sudden I’ve gone from a very frustrating year had I not finished well to now feeling pretty pleased with myself.
“But it’ll be fun to go and run the tables next week.”
Getting into the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings, not only made sure that Scott would compete this week but secured him spots in the tour’s elite Signature Events next season and like the President’s Cup.
The Australian only made it into the top 50 thanks to a final round 67 at the St Jude Championship on Sunday.
Scott’s recent run of strong results includes a second place finish at the Scottish Open and a top 10 finish at the British Open.
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