‘Old bloke’ Scott takes new role as leader

When Adam Scott made his Presidents Cup debut in 2003, the Australian would never have envisaged that about 14 years later he would still be waiting to taste an International Team victory over the dominant US.

Now 37, Scott is the veteran for the Internationals at Liberty National this week, as softspoken and polite as ever, but now a leader whose words carry weight in the team room.

“Adam is a very quiet guy but when he speaks it’s with such conviction and passion,” team captain Nick Price said.

Scott is almost destined to one day lead the team himself, but for now the 2013 US Masters champion would just like to play on a winning side.

The Internationals tied the US in SA in 2003, when Ernie Els and Tiger Woods duelled in a thrilling play-off that was called a draw in fading light.

That was a good debut experience for Scott, but six subsequent consecutive defeats have been sobering.

Perhaps a touch jaded but still optimistic, Scott hopes to feed off his younger teammates as much as they feed off him.

“It’s good to see a lot of young blood in the team and excitement levels are at an all-time high,” he said of a team in which six of the 12 players are aged below 30.

“It’s been a while since that was me in SA, so really that’s a lot of inspiration for me coming this week, [to] feed off them a little bit too, as much as I can give advice or whatever I’m meant to do as an old bloke.

“For them to lift me up too, and make me feel young again is important,” he said.

Scott’s record is hardly spectacular — 13 wins, 17 defeats and five halves — due mainly to an awful return in alternate-shot foursomes, but he has a winning 4-3-0 record in singles, where there is nowhere to hide.

And though he is nonconfrontational by nature, Scott has started taking on a role he feels is important, even if it does not come naturally.

“I didn’t really know what was going on in 2003,” he said.

“But now I’ve played so much, and it seems a bit of my role, as well, in the last couple of cups has been to be a bit of a team-room player for the guys.”