Adam Scott on track to continue 15-year FedEx Cup playoffs streak

Adam Scott has never missed the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs but is in a fight to qualify this year.

With more than $90m in career earnings on the US PGA Tour, another trip to the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs isn’t a financial motivation for Adam Scott, who hasn’t missed the season-ending event since its inception in 2007.

But the veteran Aussie star feels his ability has not diminished post his 40th birthday and he’s not done winning, so he teed it up at the Wyndham Championship this week, the final chance to qualify for the playoffs, with passage to the St Jude Classic a bonus.

Scott, 43, used his recent experience in the wind and rain in the UK to his advantage in North Carolina, carding an opening round five-under 65, which gave him the clubhouse lead before he was overtaken late on the first day by American Russell Henley.

The Masters champs is 81st on the FedEx Cup rankings, needing to get inside the top 70, and while he was nonplussed whether he made it or not, a good start could lead to another win, and that’s what he’s always after.

“I don‘t really mind. I mean, at this point, you know, it is what it is,” he said after carding seven birdies in a round that could have been even better it not for a sloppy final hole bogey.

Adam Scott shot a 65 in the opening round. Picture: Logan Whitton / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

“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.

“I‘ve had a lot of years having a go at the FedExCup Playoffs, and all these kind of things come to an end at some point. But for sure, I mean, I want to win this tournament and if I do that, I can have a really good run right through to East Lake.”

Scott is one of the oldest players still competing consistently at the top level and said there was a “fine line” between being one of the best in the world and part of the chasing pack.

“I think top-level professional sport and golf, everything is a very fine line between being a top-10 player in the world, which is very close to No.1, I think, and also being a top-150 player in the world. It’s very fine margins,” he said.

“One better round of golf this year and I’d find myself well inside the FedExCup line at the moment at the right time, that‘s how small a margin it is over a season, just one round that is a few shots better.

“I think overall though the difference between me then and now is I’m better in some areas and a little less consistent in other areas, and that’s with maybe just life coming into play as well.”