KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – We’re only three weeks removed from the last major championship, leaving Adam Scott little time to digest what transpired at the Open Championship, where he held a four-shot lead with four to play, only to lose by one to Ernie Els.
The two protagonists from Royal Lytham have spoken a few times since. Mostly, those conversations have been the Big Easy reassuring Scott that there will be brighter days, more majors to pursue. Scott hasn’t watched highlights of the Open’s final round not because it was too painful, but rather, he said, “because I pretty much know what happened out there. I can relive it quite clearly.”
On Wednesday, while addressing the media at another major championship some 2 ½ weeks later, Scott did his best to dispel the belief that he would suffer a major hangover at this week’s PGA Championship.
“I absolutely take a positive from it,” he said of his stunning runner-up at the Open. “I played maybe the best golf of my career for the whole week, really. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a win.”
His Open collapse notwithstanding, Scott clearly has learned how to play in golf’s biggest events. He tied for second at last year’s Masters, was seventh at the 2011 PGA, and hasn’t finished worse than T-15 in three major appearances this season.
How, then, will he respond the next time he’s in the hunt in a major?
“I’ve generally been a good closer of golf tournaments in my career,” Scott said. “If I was in that position, I’d like to turn it around this time and close the golf tournament out.”