Adam Scott, after 24 years as a pro, does not have many firsts left to tick off. He’s won a major. You probably remember his epic playoff win in the 2013 Masters. You may not remember his stint as World No. 1, because it was 11 weeks long and happened 10 years ago.
These days, numbers that celebrate Scott’s long and impressive career come in double and triple digits. At age 44, Scott held his own among the PGA Tour’s 30 best players last season, finishing T-4 in the final FedEx Cup standings. He’ll play in his 25th straight Open Championship next year, and, if all goes well, he can surpass 100 consecutive total majors played by 2026.
Still, this time last year, there was another first, with the Australian attending his first Ryder Cup.
He’s not European or American, so he was never eligible to play in what is arguably golf’s biggest team showpiece. Last year, Scott, who is based in Switzerland with his family, was brought along to the first Ryder Cup held in Italy, for a sponsor’s day. He watched eagerly as a fan while Europe hammered the U.S. 16½-11½ outside of Rome. “I tried to just enjoy myself that day because I didn't have to play,” Scott told Golf Digest through laughter. “It was intense. The Ryder Cup has become so big as an event.”
Scott’s lone day out at Marco Simone was during the Saturday sessions, when passion boiled over, as it often does at the Ryder Cup. This time it was a verbal altercation involving Patrick Cantlay's caddie, Joe LaCava, and Rory McIlroy.
For Scott, there was some business, too. He couldn’t help but take mental notes for the biennial team event he can play in—the Presidents Cup, in which he will compete for the 11th time this week at Royal Montreal. Leading up to the Ryder Cup, Scott played on the DP World Tour for two weeks at the Irish Open at the K Club, where Luke Donald announced his captain’s picks for Europe, and the BMW PGA at Wentworth the following week.
What he saw was inspiring.
“The European Tour really embraced their Ryder Cup players during those two weeks,” Scott recalled. “They put them on a pedestal and announced them as ‘Ryder Cuppers’ everywhere. Everyone bonded. Half the team ate breakfast together every morning at Wentworth.”
A large number of European team members—including McIlroy and Shane Lowry—played at least two DP World Tour events leading into the Ryder Cup. “They were prepared, and they executed well in Rome,” Scott said.
Conversely, the American team didn’t play seemingly anywhere near enough golf in the five weeks between the Tour Championship and Rome. Last year’s U.S. Open champ, Wyndham Clark, last week conceded he and other U.S. teammates lacked competitive reps before Marco Simone. “I would never [typically] prepare for a big event where I had five weeks off,” Clark said.
Scott went back to the International team captain, Mike Weir, with his observations for this week’s Presidents Cup.
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“I planted some seeds with Mike for him to think about,” Scott said, which included practice rounds, bonding sessions and playing between East Lake and Montreal. “You will have noticed like Corey [Conners], Min Woo [Lee] and Mac [Mackenzie] Hughes played [the Procore Championship] in Napa last week and played pretty well. We’re making sure our guys are really prepared and will show up at Montreal ready.”
Similarly, Scott, Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An all are playing this week at the BMW PGA at Wentworth.
The International team will certainly need to be ready. The quality of the U.S. side is impressive, led by the six qualifiers in Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala and Clark. Scheffler, the World No. 1, is coming off an historic PGA Tour season in which he won the Masters for a second time, as well as the Players Championship, and five other PGA Tour titles. Oh, and the Olympic gold medal in Paris.
The International team lacks the same potency but has form and depth. It has recovered from losing stars such as Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann for the 2022 Cup when they joined LIV Golf. Exactly half of the 2024 International team made it to the Tour Championship. The squad features 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, twice a winner last season, as well as five automatics in Scott, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Jason Day and An. For captain’s picks, Weir chose South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Korean Si Woo Kim, Australian Min Woo Lee, and the Canadian trio of Conners, Hughes, and Taylor Pendrith. Pendrith also won on tour last season.
“There's no doubt on paper, we’re the underdogs again, but our team is fairly good and there's more depth than we have most years,” Scott said. “I’m very positive.”
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Scott is also bullish about the venue and host city. When the PGA Tour, which runs the Cup, announced Montreal for its 15th edition, some wondered if Canada was really a home game for the Internationals. “I played the Canadian Open this year up in Hamilton, and it was like a major,” Scott said. “The Canada vs. USA rivalry is a bit like Australia vs. New Zealand. With Mike as captain and three Canadians playing, they're going to make this feel like a home game for us.”
It’s helpful then that Scott made the team. He was in contention early on the final day at the Open Championship this summer and finished T-10 at Royal Troon. His qualification for the Internationals was boosted by five top-10 finishes on tour last season, including runner-up results at the Scottish Open and the BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“I’m really proud of making this team automatically,” Scott said. “The last few years I've played OK, but not outstanding and, as I'm getting older, you can't rely on your name [for a captain’s pick] forever. I've made 10 of the 11 teams on qualification. I've been picked once.”
Scott also brings a wealth of experience. His 11th Cup increases the record he already held for appearances for the Internationals. Any points he collects in Montreal would also lift him out of a tie with Ernie Els for the all-time record (21).
But Scott would quickly trade the most appearances and points for one thing—being part of a Presidents Cup victory for the first time. The Internationals have won just once in the Cup’s 30-year history, at Royal Melbourne in 1998. Scott debuted in 2003, when the Internationals tied with the U.S. in South Africa. Since then, they’ve lost every edition.
“It seems longevity is a bit of a theme around me at the moment … but winning a Presidents Cup is a huge hole in my résumé,” Scott said. “I don't know if there will be any more Presidents Cups or not. It’s getting to that point.”
It’d be a joyous moment for Scott, but more importantly, for the event itself, which has offered few close finishes in recently, other than in South Korea (2015) and Australia (2019). It also has global potential, given the International team represents Asia, South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
“I would like to have a better record [18-25-6], personally, and I’m keen to turn that around,” Scott said. “As far as the competition goes, we're 30 years into the Presidents Cup and that sounds like a long time, but we need to be more competitive. The Internationals need to win in Montreal, and then eventually we need to win in America, to really validate this competition to the level that the Ryder Cup is.”