[Photo: Logan Whitton/Getty Images]
It’s not quite ‘win or go home’ but that is exactly the mindset Adam Scott will adopt to extend one of the more enviable records on the PGA Tour.
Scott is one of just two players to have qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs since their inception in 2007, he and American Matt Kuchar finishing inside the top 125 for the past 16 years straight.
At No.81 in the 2022/23 rankings, Scott would have qualified comfortably again but a change in format this season has made that assignment more challenging.
Only the top 70 after this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina will be Playoff-bound, giving Scott a sense of urgency and a clear path to progress.
“I’m really thinking about winning the tournament, not just trying to sneak in next week,” Scott said after Wednesday’s pro-am.
“I probably have to have a pretty high result to get in anyway, so I may as well think about winning.
“That’s what I would like to do the most this week.”
And with a record of strong past performances at Sedgefield Country Club, Scott believes it is a realistic goal.
The 14-time winner lost out in a playoff two years and says the layout is one that sets up well to his eye.
“I feel like I’ve had a good result here in the past, but it’s also a course I really like the look of,” said Scott, who needs at least a two-way tie for ninth to make the Playoffs.
“That’s a nice feeling when you stand up on most of the tees and you can really see the shot you want to hit down the fairway.
“It makes it a little easier and comforting to know that you can feel the shot that you want to hit and do it.
“I’m really confident that I can have a good week this week and hopefully it’s good enough to keep me playing a little longer.”
Scott is not the only Australian on the outside of the FedEx Cup Playoffs looking in.
Currently No.69 in the standings, Cam Davis is likely required to finish inside the top 15 to advance while Aaron Baddeley (No.92) needs to be top-three at a minimum to move onto next week.
The Asian Tour returns this week where 12 Aussies will tee it up at the Mandiri Indonesia Open while the build-up towards the final women’s major of the year continues at the Freed Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
Gabi Ruffels returns to the Epson Tour where she will lead a five-strong Aussie charge at the French Lick Charity Classic. The LET Access Series has already wrapped up for this week where South Australian Kristalle Blum’s tie for sixth was the best of the Aussies at the Smorum Ladies Open.
Round 1 tee times (AEST)
PGA Tour
Wyndham Championship Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
8.50pm* Adam Long, Harry Hall, Harrison Endycott
9.12pm* Aaron Baddeley, David Lingmerth, Dylan Wu
9.45pm* Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry
10.40pm Rory Sabbatini, Cameron Percy, Hank Lebioda
3am Russell Henley, Hideki Matsuyama, Cam Davis
Defending champion: Tom Kim Past Aussie winners: Steve Elkington (1990) TV times: Live 9.30pm-8am Thursday, Friday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Asian Tour
Mandiri Indonesia Open, Pondok Indah Golf Course, Indonesia
9.25am* Josh Younger, Jordan Indra Marcello (a), Harrison Gilbert-Wong
9.35am Nick Voke (NZ), Elki know, Kurnia Herisiandy Santoso
9.45am Jack Murdoch, Indra Hermawan, Sattaya Supupramai
10.05am Denzel Ieremia (NZ), George Gandranata, Pawin Ingkhapradit
10.05am* Chan Shih-chang, Jarin Todd, Todd Sinnott
10.15am Deyen Lawson, Yonggu Shin, Lu Wei-chih
10.45am Ben Campbell (NZ), Michael Tran, Ramadhan Alwie
11.05am Zulharmen Tabusalla, Danny Masrin, Tom Power-Horan
2.15pm* Douglas Klein, Kentaro Nanayama (a), Matthew Cheung
2.25pm* Mardan Mamat, Marcus Fraser, Terry Pilkadaris
2.55pm Gaganjeet Bhullar, Scott Hend, Nitithorn Thippong
2.55pm* Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Jack Thompson, Ben Leong
3.25pm* Sam Brazel, David Drysdale, SSP Chawrasia
Defending champion: Gaganjeet Bhullar Past Aussie winners: Terry Gale (1984), Wayne Smith (1987), Craig Parry (1997), Nick Cullen (2012)
LIV Golf
LIV Golf-Greenbrier, The Old White at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Jed Morgan, Danny Lee (NZ)
Defending champion: Inaugural event. Past Aussie winners: Nil. TV times: Live 3.15am-8.15am Saturday, Sunday; Live 3.05am-8.05am Monday on Seven/7 Plus.
Japan Golf Tour
Yokohama Minato Championship Yokohama Country Club, Kanagawa
8.20am Kosuke Suzuki, Anthony Quayle, Riki Kawamoto
9.10am* Yusuke Sakamoto, Adam Bland, Nobuaki Oda
12.30pm Taishi Moto (a), Andrew Evans, Daisuke Yasumoto
1pm* Masahiro Kuramoto, Brad Kennedy, Takanori Konishi
2pm* Kakudai Kaneko, Shoji Kawai, Dylan Perry
Defending champion: Inaugural event Past Aussie winners: Nil
Ladies European Tour
Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open, Dundonald Links, Scotland
4.32pm* Nasa Hataoka, Linn Grant, Minjee Lee
5.16pm Sarah Kemp, Kylie Henry, Hye-Jin Choi
10.48pm Stephanie Kyriacou, Karis Davidson, Lily May Humphreys
Defending champion: Ayaka Furue Past Aussie winners: Rebecca Artis (2015) TV times: Live 11pm-3am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 508; Live 10.17pm-2am Saturday; Live 10pm-2am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship, Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, Utah
12.10am Joshua Creel, Brett Drewitt, Brian Campbell
12.20am* Ricky Castillo, Curtis Luck, Matt McCarty
4.45am* Kevin Dougherty, Dimi Papadatos, AJ Crouch
Defending champion: Andrew Kozan Past Aussie winners: Jeff Woodland (1992) TV times: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Challenge Tour
British Challenge, St Mellion Estate, Cornwall, England
7.20pm Mateusz Gradecki, Alvaro Quiros, Jordan Zunic
11.55pm* Ryan Ruffels, Renato Paratore, Velten Meyer
Defending champion: Euan Walker Past Aussie winners: Nil
Epson Tour
French Lick Charity Classic, The Pete Dye Course at French Lick, French Lick, Indiana
9.52pm Kim Kaufman, Chatprapa Siri Edell, Sarah Jane Smith
10.14pm Robyn Choi, Natasha Andrea Oon, Britney Yada
10.25pm* Isabella Fierro, Jillian Hollis, Cassie Porter
10.47pm Amelia Garvey (NZ), Jiwon Jeon, Agathe Laisne
10.47pm* Yiyi Liu, Yue Ren, Gabriela Ruffels
3.36pm* Becca Huffer, Lindsey McCurdy, Hira Naveed
Defending champion: Xiaowen Yin Past Aussie winners: Nil
PGA TOUR Canada
Windsor Championship, Ambassador Golf Club, Windsor, Ontario
11.10pm Jason Hong, Taylor Funk, Jordan Hahn
3.30am* Dylan Healey, Jack Trent, Andrew Farraye
4.20am* Corey Shaun, George Markham, Cory Crawford
Defending champion: Dawson Armstrong Past Aussie winners: Nil
Legends Tour
The JCB Championship, JCB Golf and Country Club, Rocester, England
6.52pm Thongchai Jaidee, Rod Pampling, Phillip Archer
7.03pm* David Morland IV, Malcolm Mackenzie, Michael Long (NZ)
7.14pm Michael Campbell (NZ), Chris DiMarco, Greig Hutcheon
7.14pm* Peter Fowler, Gary Wolstenholme, Jean-François Remesy
7.36pm* Jason Norris, Miguel Angel Martin, Paul Streeter
8.09pm Clark Dennis, Markus Brier, Peter O’Malley
8.09pm* Adilson Da Silva, Steven Alker (NZ), Stephen Dodd
Defending champion: Alex Cejka Past Aussie winners: Nil
