Adam Scott will contest three tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia in the first half of the upcoming summer, ensuring his absence from our shores last year was a one-off hiatus.
In a career highlighted by returns to compete in Australia most summers, the 45-year-old will play in the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and Cathedral Invitational in a three-week stretch beginning from November 27.
After electing to skip his usual Australian sojourn last year, this time Scott is one of the early committers to our biggest tournaments.
“I’m never really wanting to miss that opportunity, however I made a personal decision last year to not come down and play,” Scott said today from Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina, where he is preparing to contest the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship.
“But [I’m] excited to come home and play at my home club, Royal Queensland, at the PGA again, and then, of course, it’s very exciting to see the Australian Open move to Royal Melbourne this year for the first time in my career. So I’m glad I’m going to get that opportunity at long last. And finishing out with Cathedral, which is a really fun way to end the year in far more relaxed environment, I’d say. But getting to wrap the year up with some close friends out there.”
The Queenslander said the national championship moving to a blockbuster venue in Royal Melbourne has created “a hundred times more interest in the Australian Open and the events in Australia this year” among the game’s top players compared to recent years, while Rory McIlroy’s two-year commitment to play in our national championship also raised interest.
“It made big headlines that Rory was coming down to play in Australia,” Scott said. “That pushed Royal Melbourne out there even more. And there are a fair few guys who played the Presidents Cup in ’19 at Royal Melbourne and it’s certainly gotten a lot of attention from the players – right through the ranks from the top guys on down. Royal Melbourne has an incredible history and reputation that a lot of guys would like to experience.”
Scott is yet to win an Australian Open in Melbourne, while neither of his Australian PGA titles came at the current host venue, Royal Queensland Golf Club, where Scott has been a member since he was 11 years old. He won the Australian Open in 2009 at New South Wales Golf Club, the Australian PGAs of 2013 and 2019 at RACV Royal Pines Resort, plus the Cathedral Invitational’s most recent staging in 2023.
The son of a PGA of Australia member is also on a mission to match Cam Smith as a three-time Australian PGA champion.
“I am motivated about Cam having won it three times – I think I should be,” Scott laughed.
The Australian Open reverting to a separate men’s and women’s format was arguably a factor in Scott’s decision to return this year. Never one to be overly critical of an area within the sport (tournament management) where he’s not intimately familiar, he nevertheless opined that the mixed format “dilutes” each of the respective championships. Standalone events also create fewer logistical concerns for the three fields.
“I don’t think it boosted all of the events. That would be my biggest takeaway,” Scott said. “There were some logistical problems from playing in it, like there were too many people on the golf course and it was incredibly slow, and there was some issues with the draw and things like that that I feel like at the national-championship level – and, again, I hold the Australian Open in high regard – ideally, we don’t want. So, I think it’s good we’ve moved away from it and I think there’s an opportunity for each of these events to flourish on their own now.”
The 2013 Masters champion is compiling a middling year by his standards, with only three missed cuts but no top-10 finishes. However, he shot to prominence by playing in the final group on Sunday at the US Open at storied Oakmont Country Club. Wet weather and a wickedly difficult golf course conspired against the Aussie, though, as he closed with a 79 to fall outside the top 10. Afterwards, Scott called the conditions “borderline unplayable”.
A summer at home might revive his fortunes ahead of a 2026 season in which Scott is likely to contest his 100th consecutive major championship – if he can qualify – at the US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
