Adam Scott has a PGA Tour card locked up for 2024 no matter what happens at the Wyndham Championship. Exactly when he might be playing again, however, is up in the air depending on his fate this week at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
The 43-year-old Australian is No. 81 on the FedEx Cup points list heading into the week, with only the top 70 qualifying for the Playoffs that begin next week in Memphis. Scott has to finish no worse than a two-way tie for T-9 to move on and more comfortably needs a three-way T-3 finish. Otherwise, for the first time since the advent of the FedEx Cup in 2007, Scott will be missing out on postseason action. Along with Matt Kuchar, Scott is one of just two players who have qualified for Playoffs all previous 16 seasons.
“At this point, you know, it is what it is,” says Scott, having been outside the top 70 bubble for much of the summer. “I feel like when I come out to play golf, I'm there to give it my best shot and if I make it, I make it. And if I don't, I don't.”
But with an opening-round five-under 65 that led the early scoring at Wyndham, Scott looks like he is plenty motivated to keep the streak alive.
Asked what his mindset is this week, Scott offered a simple but focused strategy.
“If I can be the low man every day, I’ll be just fine for winning the tournament and getting through to the playoffs,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ve got a few more good ones in me.”
Starting off the 10th tee and dodging the morning rain drops, Scott bogeyed the 11th hole, but bounced back with birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Then came two more on the 15th and 17th holes.
“It's that thing of how you start and getting under par early and feeling like you're moving in the right direction is definitely a … definitely a settling feeling in a tournament,” Scott said. “When you're a couple over early, you start finding the golf course much more difficult than it probably really is and hard to find that momentum. So those early birdies were good.”
Scott has come to terms with not making the Playoffs, which might actually free him up this week, too. “I've had a lot of years having a go at the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and all these kind of things come to an end at some point.”
If it did this year, though, it’s unclear when Scott might then play his next PGA Tour event. The Aussie often plays a sparse fall schedule and without the need to earn any points during the Fall Series events this year to keep a card for 2024, Scott potentially might have played his last tour event for the year.
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