US Open: Adam Scott falls apart in wild, wet conditions at Oakmont

Adam Scott was four-over in his final round at the US Open when he found himself in the lead but kept going backwards on a wild, wet day.

Adam Scott says he “paid the price” for poor driving and was “just so sloppy” as his hopes of a second major were blown apart on a horror back nine at the US Open.

A lengthy rain delay presented the toughest conditions possible on an Oakmont Country Club layout that proved a near untameable beast.

After wild rain stalled his final round for 96 minutes, the 44-year-old, who was looking to become the seventh Australian to win multiple majors, instead chopped his way around the back nine.

Remarkably, he was tied for the lead after 12 holes despite his bogey barrage but then dropped four shots in three holes and another on the 18th in a final round 79 after a wild day that ended with JJ Spaun crowned champion.

But while he didn’t lift the trophy, as he found the “borderline unplayable” course conditions difficult, by finishing tied for 12th, Scott earnt automatic qualification for next year’s PGA Championship, which will mark, fitness pending, a 100th consecutive major, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only golfer in history to achieve the feat.

Scott and his playing partner in the final group, overnight leader Sam Burns, didn’t finish their rounds until close to 8.30pm in fading light, having continued to find trouble on the sodden course, repeatedly having to chop out of thick rough after missing fairways and greens.

“I don’t know. It was tough. It was bad conditions. No one really had a good score,” Scott said.

Adam Scott struggled on the final day. Picture: Andy Lyons / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

“I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there. Couldn’t recover. Conditions were just tough. They were tough at the start. It was very windy. Hadn’t been that windy all week. Front nine played tough.

“Then once the fairways were soaked, it was very hard controlling the golf ball.

“It was borderline unplayable. The water was like so close to the surface. Like the shot I hit on 11, it’s bizarre. I just don’t know. It was like an aquaplane on the ground. Everyone had to deal with it.”

The brutal layout had already claimed defending champion Bryson de Chambeau, who missed the cut, and there was little respite for those who survived to the final 18 holes, and the arduous task claimed Scott.

With a chance to break the record for the longest gap between major wins – 4445 days since his 2013 Masters triumph – couldn’t navigate the wet the same way he did at Augusta more than a decade ago.

His chances went sideways on the 14th after his tee shot landed just below the lip of a fairway bunker. His attempt to get out only advanced the ball a few metres and back into the thick rough.

He made bogey, his sixth for the round, then another on 15, after again missing the fairway, and then a horror double-bogey on the par 3 16th hole, dropping to five-over and out of contention.

Groundskeepers brush water from the course on the 18th green. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Scott finished with another bogey and tied for 12th as Spaun celebrated a major breakthrough with a remarkable birdie on the 18th hole to finish two shots ahead of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who sat in the clubhouse for an hour after posting his score of one-over.

Spaun was the only player in the entire field to finish under par.

“Look, it just wasn’t easy out there,” Scott said.

“All things being equal, it’s Sunday of the US Open, one of the hardest set-ups, and the conditions were the hardest of the week. Thank God it wasn’t like this all week.

“I felt better before the rain delay, that’s for sure. I went back out feeling OK, but then I left every kind of tee shot to the right coming in, and that was impossible to recover from almost.

“It was just so sloppy the rest of the way. Sam, we must have looked horrible, both of us playing like that. But that’s what can happen in these things. If you get a little off, you’re just severely punished.”

Scott reacts after missing a putt on the 10th hole. Picture: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

The final round began as normal before rain enveloped the course and the siren sounded to signal the suspension as Scott and Burns were about to tackle the monster 275m par-3 eighth hole.

Scott had already dropped three shots to that point, and while the chasers rallied, he and Burns, who closed with an eight-over 78, found only trouble.

Jason Day was the next best Aussie, finishing in a tie for 23rd, at eight-over.

Marc Leishman tied for 38th on 11-over in his return to the majors while Cam Davis, who was the first player on course in the final day, was tied for 64th, finishing at a mammoth 22-over par, indicative of the battle all players faced across the four rounds.