Open Championship 2024: Adam Scott’s stunning birdie launches him into contention – Australian Golf Digest

by Admin
July 18, 2024

Adam Scott played his way into early Open Championship contention midway through the first round.

The former Masters champion, playing his 24th consecutive Open, was tied for the lead at two-under-par during the back nine but dropped a shot at the par-5 16th for a one-under 70. After the morning wave, the Queenslander sat two shots back of two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. The American’s 68 gave him the clubhouse lead on a rainy, windy Thursday in Scotland.

A wind change on the brutal back nine at Troon had Scott figuring the direction out on the go and he was happy get in the clubhouse in red figures. “I hadn’t really played in that wind this week and I made a couple of errors [two back-nine bogeys]. It was fairly uneventful day so I played solid and pretty happy to start under par,” Scott told reporters after the round.

Scott’s opening round got off to a flyer when he holed a bunker shot at the par-4 first for birdie. He also birdied the 112-metre, par-3 eighth. The short but tough signature hole at Troon is known as “Postage Stamp.” Bogeys at No.13 and the 16 – where Scott chose driver and hit it too far into the burn – prevented him from having an otherwise brilliant round in tough conditions. A birdie at the par-4 15th was the only one on the back nine. “I made an error and 16 hit one too much [club] off the tee and cost me a bogey, but other than that everything was good,” Scott said.

Scott, who turned 44 on Tuesday, was pleased to have carried his form from last week’s Scottish Open, where he led with two holes to go only to be beaten by one shot from Scottish star Bob MacIntyre, to Troon. His runner-up result was his best result of the year and first top 10 since February.

“I was slightly disappointed [to finish second] but Bob made great putts coming in and when you make putts like that, you win tournaments,” the 14-time PGA Tour winner said. “It was the first time I’ve contended this year and I felt a lot better from tee to green. It’s the first time in four years or so I’ve had some confidence going into a major.”

The former world No.1 Scott hopes to maintain his momentum through the next two rounds and be in with a chance on Sunday. Scott recorded a runner-up and three other top 10s in four straight Opens from 2012 to 2015.

“[Being in contention this Sunday] would be great because my game is finally in some decent shape and I feel like I’m controlling the ball well,” he said. “It’s sometimes easy to scrap it around links courses, but you’re not going to hole a lot of 40 footers. At some point, you’re going to need to hit some really quality iron shots from the fairway to get close to some tucked pins and give yourself more realistic chances. They are the guys who are going to be up there at the end of the week.”

Min Woo Lee was next best of the Australians having carded an even-par 71 to sit four back of the clubhouse lead. Victorian amateur Jasper Stubbs shot a nine-over 80. Jason Day and Cameron Smith were off in the afternoon wave.