Adam Scott is returning home this summer after a year’s hiatus, starting with the Australian PGA Championship at the club where he’s been a member since his junior days.
When Adam Scott steps onto the tee at Royal Queensland Golf Club this November, it will mark more than just another tournament appearance. It will be a homecoming, a reunion with his junior-golf roots and a potential march towards a third BMW Australian PGA Championship title – one that would place him alongside fellow Queenslander Cameron Smith in the history books.
Scott’s return to Royal Queensland, where he has been a member since the age of 11, is the centrepiece of his 2025 summer schedule in Australia. The 2013 Masters champion is confirmed to play the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the Australian Open and the two-day Cathedral Invitational, but it’s the PGA – a jewel in Australia’s summer golf calendar – that carries the deepest personal significance.
“I’ve been a member there since I was 11 years old,” Scott said in a media call announcing his return. “Every time I’m out there, I see guys who I was on the junior pennant team with. It’s home. It would be fun to give my old mates something to cheer about.”
The Joe Kirkwood Cup isn’t just another trophy for Scott. It’s part of his golf DNA. He’s already hoisted the silverware twice, a pair of memorable victories at RACV Royal Pines in 2013 and 2019. But winning at Royal Queensland, his childhood course, would carry a different kind of emotional weight.
“My dad’s a PGA member, so the PGA is close to our family,” Scott shared. “Luckily I’ve won the event before and doing it again at my home club would be something very special.”
Scott’s relationship with the tournament runs deeper than just wins and appearances. It’s about heritage. It’s about legacy. And in 2025, even at age 45, it’s also about competition.
Cameron Smith, the LIV Golf star and former Open champion, has claimed the Australian PGA title three times, most recently in 2022. Scott, with two wins of his own, is now openly eyeing the chance to match his compatriot.
“Now that you mention it,” Scott said with a grin when asked about Smith’s trio of titles, “I am motivated.”
It’s a friendly rivalry between two of Australia’s most successful modern players – both hailing from Queensland, both masters of their craft and both adored by local fans. If Scott can win a third title this year, he will tie Smith and solidify his name even further among the tournament’s elite champions.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
What makes this BMW Australian PGA Championship particularly meaningful for Scott is the venue. Royal Queensland, redesigned in 2007 by Mike Clayton and his firm, has evolved significantly from the course Scott remembers as a junior.
“It’s so vastly different. I don’t even think they’re really comparable,” Scott told Australian Golf Digest while reflecting on the transformation. “I’ve hit that age where I can romanticise about my junior pennant days… those shots still live in my head.”
Although the layout has changed, the spirit of the club remains intact for Scott. The familiarity, the memories, the faces – albeit older – all offer a sense of grounding for a player who has spent two decades circling the globe on the game’s professional circuits.
Adding to the spectacle at Royal Queensland is the now-iconic “party hole” – the lively par-3 17th modelled on golf’s growing trend of injecting high-energy fan zones into the traditionally quiet game. Scott is all for it.
“The party hole has been fun,” he said. “It’s kind of a wedge par 3, so I think that’s pretty fair on us – we should hit the green with a wedge.”
Beyond that, Scott says the addition enhances the event’s overall atmosphere. “Even if you’re far away on the other holes, you’re hearing music and loud cheering going on. I think that helps the vibe of the tournament, for sure.”
For fans, it’s an opportunity to enjoy world-class golf in a festival-like setting. For players, it brings a unique challenge – one where crowd energy and nerves mix in an unforgettable setting.
LESSON LEARNT
After skipping the Australian summer las year to take a break from a gruelling international schedule, Scott has carefully planned his 2025 return.
“I kind of learned my lesson the past couple of years,” he said. “I’m at the point where I can’t keep pushing myself. [The body] just doesn’t work like it used to.”
This year, he’s adjusted his schedule with the goal of arriving in top form for the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and Cathedral Invitational. That means more rest, smarter planning and ensuring he’s peaking physically and mentally when he hits the fairways of Royal Queensland, Royal Melbourne and Cathedral golf clubs.
“I certainly want to come down and perform and give myself a shot at these great trophies at home,” Scott said.
While the Australian Open and once-a-decade stagings of the Presidents Cup her often receive the global spotlight, the BMW Australian PGA Championship holds a distinct role in the golf ecosystem here. It’s a launching pad, a celebration and a showcase of homegrown and international talent.
Scott recognises this and embraces the opportunity to support it. “I feel like I’ve done my best over my career to support the events in Australia. Missing one last year felt OK, but I’m very excited to come back again and play.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by the PGA of Australia, Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Golf Australia and fans alike. Having Scott not just participate, but contend and engage, adds gravitas.
Scott is also doing his part to encourage more international players, particularly from the PGA Tour, to make the trip Down Under. But he admits that’s easier said than done.
“It’s at an awful time of year for a lot of guys – right around Thanksgiving in the US,” he noted. “But I only have good things to say about it. I’m completely biased, 100 percent.”
Still, he believes that if Australia continues to offer world-class venues, especially courses on the Sandbelt, more players will start to prioritise the trip.
“The more we play at places like Royal Melbourne, Royal Queensland, Kingston Heath, the more likely it is that guys will make the effort. It’s about showing them the quality of what’s here.”
A SECOND OPEN TITLE?
While the PGA takes first billing for Scott, he’s also relishing the opportunity to compete at the Australian Open, which will be played at Royal Melbourne for the first time in his professional career, as the most recent staging of the men’s national championship there came in 1991.
“It’s kind of crazy that I’ve never played an Aussie Open at Royal Melbourne,” said the 2009 champion. “I’m glad I’m going to get that opportunity at long last.”
This year’s Australian Open is generating huge buzz with Rory McIlroy confirmed to play, and Scott says the combination of elite fields and top-tier venues is essential to elevating the event. “There’s definitely been a hundred times more interest in the Australian Open and the events in Australia this year than in the past few years.”
Still, his focus remains clear: Royal Queensland and the BMW Australian PGA Championship are first in his diary. For Adam Scott, 2025 offers the perfect storm: a return to his roots, a chance to match one of his fiercest competitors, and a real opportunity to inspire a new generation of Australian golfers by performing on home soil.
His presence at the Australian PGA will draw fans, sharpen the competition, and lift the stature of the event. And if he lifts the trophy on Sunday, November 30, it won’t just be a win, it will be a full-circle moment decades in the making.
“It would be fun to get in the mix again,” Scott said, with the calm confidence of a man who’s done it all yet still has something to prove.
Tickets and hospitality packages available at premier.ticketek.com.au
Photographs by bradley kanaris/getty images and matt king/getty images
