This was not Adam Scott's U.S. Open. Will the wait for his second major ever end?
OAKMONT, Pa. — With the day finally over and the week finally done, Adam Scott got to the Oakmont Country Club parking lot and began the process of realization that comes when any long wait is prolonged. These are the moments when the quotation marks fall away, when you hear the hard stuff. Scott stopped walking and started talking.
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'You know, when I won that Masters,' he said, looking around like a man in an empty room, 'I really thought, 'Here we go, the floodgates are going to open.''
That Masters, played in the spring of 2013, when Scott was 32 and let out a winning roar as photo flashes lit the green and rain fell from above, was 12 years, one month and 20 days ago. At the time, Augusta was going to be the starting point of the story that would determine his place among the greats in golf, and, well, he was sort of right. Except, instead of a career defined by major wins, it's been resembling some cruel Sisyphean endeavor.
There's a reason this was everyone's sentimental pick on Sunday at this U.S. Open. What a story it'd be. The old guy. The wise one. The guy who put in his time and traveled the long road and stuck with it. The guy whose résumé has never quite matched a swing so smooth that it somehow overshadows his looks. Adam Scott, in the final pairing of his 24th career U.S. Open, in his 96th consecutive major tournament start, would be a fitting winner for a cathedral like Oakmont.
So, what happened?
Seventy-nine shots.
Seventy-nine wicked, wet, woebegone shots.
Each seemingly worse than the last.
All over the course of a day seemingly as long as the wait that it took to get here.
Scott arrived a little after noon on Sunday. He teed off alongside tournament leader Sam Burns at 2:15. He left the course at 4 amid a pounding rain, then went back to the practice range at 5, then to the eighth hole for a 5:40 restart.
Before the delay, Scott liked where he stood. He opened with two bogeys in the opening three holes but got one back on the par-5 fourth before missing a 10-footer for par on No. 6. He was 2 over on the day but felt good about his form and was 1 under for the tournament and one shot out of the lead. He knew Oakmont would take its toll on everyone and believed he'd stay standing.
'I was absolutely feeling great,' he said afterward. 'No doubt.'
He did until he didn't. After the stoppage of play, what had been a daring weeklong pas de deux between this U.S. Open's entrants and this wonderful old beast of a course devolved into a sopping-wet street fight of survival. Scott never found his way, pushing drive after drive down the right side. Every second shot he hit seemed to be played out of a bowl of soup. Bad shots combined with some bad breaks, and the Aussie came undone. He played the final 11 holes in 7 over par and finished in a six-way tie for 12th. His tournament essentially ended with back-to-back bogeys on holes 14 and 15, then a coffin-closing double on the 16th.
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Coming up 18, Scott walked through the shockwave of J.J. Spaun's 64-foot winning putt, seeing it all play out a few hundred yards away. In the aftermath, he hit an approach, then set off on a long stroll that he undoubtedly imagined differently only a few hours earlier. A career coronation. A final validation. Instead, he was passed by volunteers running down the side of the hole to get in position for Spaun's trophy presentation. Scott wrapped up a final bogey, tipped his cap, shook hands with his group's standard-bearers and walked off into yet another void.
The thoughts that came next are ones he's all too used to.
'I understand that winning another major would, you know, put me in some kind of different category,' he said in the parking lot. 'I've dreamed of winning lots of majors. I'm just trying to get that next one — always. But that's the way it is.'
The hardest part about Scott's journey — from Masters winner to world No. 1 to years searching for a next major victory — is that it's never been for a lack of effort. If anything, it's the opposite. The longer he's gone on like this, the harder he's working.
Trevor Immelman, CBS's lead analyst, is Scott's closest friend and his extra set of eyes. The two came up together, from junior golf to the PGA Tour to the Presidents Cup to Masters champions. Immelman's career was cut short by injuries; he openly acknowledges living vicariously through his friend. He has seen everything Scott has done and how he has done it. The endless equipment tweaks. All the work on approach shots and iron play. The fitness regimen.
Speaking by phone Sunday from his home in Florida, Immelman, 45, pointed out what's missed in all the old-man tropes that line Scott's narrative.
The most common perception — that his age and experience are his advantage — is wrong.
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In truth, it's the fact that, even in his 40s, Scott maintains the swing speed and power of a top-20 player in the world because he works endlessly to sustain it. Just like Tiger Woods did. Just like Phil Mickelson did. Just like Ernie Els and Vijay Singh and Davis Love III.
And that's the difference.
'An awesome weapon of speed and power — that's how he stays relevant,' Immelman said. 'Because if you don't have that, then you can't use your experience.'
Now, still looking for that long-awaited second major, the question is: How much longer can Scott use what he has?
There's what he sees on the course. Even with Sunday's disappointment, Scott left Oakmont knowing he was in a position to win, same as he was at Quail Hollow, when he was in second place with seven holes to go before again fading hard and finishing tied for 19th. He expects to contend at Portrush next month and is positioned to make the Tour Championship.
And there's what he sees in the mirror. Scott turns 45 next month. His wife and three kids live year-round in Switzerland. He is, at last check, not getting younger.
It's hard. Waiting is one thing. Not knowing what you're waiting for is another.
Here, Scott acknowledges what he knows. He's on the clock.
'I feel like I can keep this up for another 18 months, for sure,' he said. 'Then, at that point, I'll be 46. I think I can push myself for the next year and a half and then reassess, you know? That's a reasonable goal. It's not so long, but it's like, 'Are you ever going to do it?' I need to give myself a bit of a deadline, a bit of urgency, right?'
In truth, he's long had that.
It just feels different when time keeps moving.
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