After finishing a nine-hole practice round Wednesday with a few lob shots from the gnarly rough to the back-right corner of the 18th green at Oakmont Country Club, Adam Scott shook hands with a few volunteers and then signed autographs.
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He still had a session on the practice range ahead of him but otherwise felt sufficiently prepared to play in his 24th US Open.
“This place is easy,” he said with a wide grin, clearly jesting.
To make 24 straight starts in the US Open is not easy. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler makes his 24th major start overall this week.
More impressive still, when Scott teed off at 7:18am Thursday on the 10th hole with Ludvig Aberg and Hideki Matsuyama, the Australian veteran embarked on his 96th straight major appearance. A man has to remain healthy, maintain a high competitive level and be a little lucky to play in every major since the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in England.
If he can sustain it yet another full year to the 2026 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, Scott would join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have made 100 straight starts in the majors. He is not likely to catch the Golden Bear, whose streak stretched to 146 in a row (aided by eight special exemptions from the USGA), but a run spilling into triple digits still boggles the mind.
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Scott’s mind included.
“Sounds like a lot,” he said with a shake of his head before adding playfully, “sounds like a lot to have won only one. My record doesn’t sound great, so let’s move on.”
But there’s a consistency there.
Scott interrupted. “It’d be twice as good if there was one more, wouldn’t it?”
Adam Scott after missing a putt on No.18 green during the final round of the 2012 British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes. [Robert Beck]
The one he did win came after one he absolutely should have won. Scott captured the 2013 Masters by defeating Angel Cabrera in a sudden-death playoff. The previous July, also at Lytham, he bogeyed each of the last four holes and gifted the claret jug to Ernie Els. That heartbreak is one of nine top-five finishes in the majors. The fewest of his 20 top-10s have come in the US Open, where only three times he finished that high. His best was T-4 in 2015 at Chambers Bay.
Scott, 44, is among a handful of players making his third appearance at Oakmont. He missed the cut in 2007 and was T-18 in 2016. The first of those efforts resulted in quite a shock. After competing in the Memorial Tournament that year, Scott and fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy, the defending champion, hastened to Oakmont for a scouting trip.
“I remember that I was playing well at the time,” said Scott, who was in the midst of three finishes in a row of seventh or better. “I played really great that day [at Oakmont] and Geoff didn’t, so I was feeling really chipper about myself. And then went down to Memphis. I actually kind of messed the tournament up on the back nine, got up to Oakmont and thought I was in good shape, and I hit six greens in two days and flew back to Australia. So it really hit me hard. I played so poorly.”
He shot 76-82 in that initial try but was much more proficient nine years ago at six-over 286 that included a second-round 69.
Ranked 42nd in the world, Scott has kept his streak alive by going through final qualifying for the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock in Columbus, Ohio. He had to qualify last year as well but lost in a playoff to countryman Cam Davis in Springfield, Ohio. He snuck in via the top 60 in the world ranking amid the most unfortunate circumstances, however, with the death of Grayson Murray.
Had that not occurred, Scott’s streak would have ended at 91. According to ShotLink stats, that still would have placed him second all time, four more than Tom Watson. Next is Sergio Garcia, who saw his run end at 84 when he withdrew from the 2020 Masters after testing positive for Covid-19.
Adam Scott watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the 2007 US Open at Oakmont. [Donald Miralle]
Davis Love III rounds out the top five with 70 majors in a row, followed by Zach Johnson (69), Vijay Singh (67) and Nick Faldo (65). For the curious among you, Tiger Woods’ high mark was 46 straight from the 1997 Masters to the 2008 US Open – both ending in victory. Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, comes in at 61 in a row starting with the 1994 US Open at Oakmont through the 2009 US Open at Bethpage Black.
“It’s incredibly impressive,” said Marc Leishman, who played with Scott and another Australian native, Cam Smith, on Wednesday. “You look at the condition he keeps himself in and still playing some good golf as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if he played well this week. It’s a really great run that deserves a lot of respect.”
It could be that if Scott reaches the century mark, he might have to wait a long time for more company. Injuries happen. The competition gets tougher. Form ebbs.
“I think probably whenever it ends, whether it’s a hundred or more or less, I think it’ll be hard for guys to get to that number going forward,” he said. “I think it’s probably getting harder. I think I have been a consistent player for a long time, over a 25-year career. I could probably quickly pick three troughs where my game was looking pretty ordinary, but where I fell outside the top 50 and was really struggling, but over 25 years you have to expect that of almost every player. Rory [McIlroy] probably right now is maybe the exception to that. I think Phil probably did better than that, too. Now we’re talking about greatest of their generations, and I’m not really in that category.”
Scott owns 32 wins worldwide including 14 on the PGA Tour. He has played for the International team in the Presidents Cup team 11 times and almost certainly will be a future captain. He has had a fine career.
But in one category, he stands out among all who are playing the game today. Consistency is no small thing, especially in golf where it’s so elusive.
