How Adam Scott prepared for everything except this – an Australian Open defeat
Adam Scott spent three hours getting ready for his final round at the Australian Open. Then nothing in the plan went to plan.
Adam Scott arrives at Victoria Golf Club at 8.45am. The World Cup has been shown for the dawn brigade on the big screen behind the 18th green. Tournament director Trevor Herden is still mopping up the tears from the Socceroos’ defeat when Scott commences a marathon three-hour preparation for his final round at the Australian Open.
A swing this good doesn’t just climb out of bed and get into the day. Like Elle Macpherson, I can only assume, it doesn’t wake up looking quite as svelte as it does on the magazine covers.
It needs a coffee, maybe some smashed avo on toast, a morning dip and a massage. Or at least a hit on the range, a stretch, a gym session and time on an exercise bike.
“It’s very planned and purposeful,” Scott says. “The mentality is to really put a focus on something and then going and getting it instead of just waiting for it to happen.”
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Three hours! That’s a heck of a long warm-up routine. On top of the five-hour round, that’s a full working day. Scott’s focus? Making fast starts. He used to wait three or four holes for his swing to join him. The going and getting? He wanted to go and get his second Australian Open title but nothing in the plan went to plan. He worked from nine to five, what a way to make a living, and yet all he could do was watch Poland’s Adrian Meronk run off with a five-stroke victory.
“Super-excited,” Meronk said.
As for Scott’s fast start, he might as well have slept in, had Maccas for brekky and run to the first tee while still tucking in his shirt and asking if anyone had a spare ball. The first hole at Victoria was a short par-four of a mere 244m. He would normally birdie it in a blindfold, par it in his sleep. Leading by a shot overnight, he went long and left from the tee, flopped his chip into the bunker over the back, chunked his third shot a couple of metres past the pin and missed the putt. Bogey. Meronk took birdie and the lead, keeping it for the rest of the day.
Scott suffered from an awkward logjam on the first hole. The women’s group of soon-to-be champion Ashleigh Buhai, Hannah Green and Jiya Shin called up the men before putting out. They were still finishing the hole while Scott waited to chip. Six players were around the same green. Then the women’s tee on the second hole had been brought so far forward that it was directly behind the first green, so Scott had to keep waiting while the women teed off. He was delayed a good 15 minutes between his first and second shots of the day. A little difficult to get off to a flyer.
He trailed Meronk by three at the turn. Nothing was happening. Putts were disinterested in dropping. Plenty of them pulled up short as if they couldn’t be bothered. One or two had a look at the cup but decided a birdie wasn’t for them. Scott was chasing his first tournament win since the Genesis International in America nearly three years ago, and he found a more purposeful stride when he inched back to a single-shot deficit with five holes to go on a hot, windy, dusty afternoon – only to implode again.
“Never really got it going when I needed to get it going,” he said. “I would have loved to have played just a little bit better but I mean, on Thursday I didn’t think I’d make the cut this week. It would have been nice to win but to be honest, I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks of not playing golf. I feel like I’ve played a lot.”
Still a long time between victories for the 42-year-old Scott after his two-over round of 72 left him at nine-under for the tournament. Meronk finished in style, snaking in a 12m putt to eagle the last and sign for a four-under 66 and cumulative total of minus 14, five ahead of the second-placed Scott. A day that began with the possibility of a Socceroos’ victory and two Australian triumphs at the golf ended with a trio of losses – the women’s Open was won by South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai. More tears for the mop.
“To finish like that on the 18th … just unreal,” Meronk said.
The logistical problems of a dual-gender Open were laid bare on the 72nd hole. When the TV broadcast focused on Buhai, viewers missed Scott’s putts on the 17th and his tee shot on the 18th. Both championship moments felt underwhelming, perhaps because of the offshore winners, perhaps because they were only half the show each. The early days of the Open were tremendous but when the tournament was on the line – I walked away thinking separate Opens were probably still the go.
“I just enjoy playing in front of an enthusiastic home crowd,” Scott said. “Like I said, my expectations were a bit lower on Thursday. How I played the last three days … I was happy with that. I wish I could have delivered a better result for myself and the crowd today but I was outplayed. That’s just how it goes.”
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