IT’S ALL OR NOTHING
SCOTT CHASING PGA GLORY:
WITH his season hanging in the balance, Adam Scott vowed to leave nothing in the tank at this week’s US PGA Championship.
The Australian world No.17 has given himself a green light to attack host course Quail Hollow in the hopes of a birdie blitz at the year’s final major.
After a lean season, Scott sits 61st on the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points race and will forgo the first two playoffs events in late August and September to be with wife Marie as the couple welcome their second child due on August 19.
The 37-year-old Scott plans to return at the BMW Championship, the third playoffs fixture, but can only qualify for the September 14 event if his points tally is enough to stay inside the top-70.
Scott has 637 points before the PGA Championship and in 2016 compatriot Marc Leishman scraped into the top-70 after two playoffs with 853.
He has had a respectable season, finishing outside the top-15 just five times from 14 tournaments.
At the majors, Scott contended at the Masters and tied for ninth but missed the cut at the US Open and finished 22nd at the British Open.
The 2013 Masters champion says only a victory at the US PGA Championship can redeem his season.
“It’s win or bust, basically. I’ve tried really hard this season but not all the chips have fallen my way. It seems like my game is close at times and then it’s not,” Scott said.
But Scott said missing the Tour’s post-season entirely could be liberating for his PGA Championship campaign.
“It can be, absolutely. I feel like I should just leave it all out there this week; have a crack and not worry about it too much. I may as well,” he said.
“If I can get comfortable early this week, I can just free wheel it and try make a ton of birdies, because I think there’s going to be a lot at Quail Hollow.”
Comparing his 2017 performance to the two victories and two second placings he bagged in 2016, Scott gives himself a pass mark for juggling decent results with schedule changes and his wife’s pregnancy.
Scott has played a tournament before each major in 2017 to counteract spending long periods at his Gold Coast and Swiss bases, rather than his preferred Bahamas location.