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Daily Record
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Adam Scott opens up on Oakmont agony and shows his true colours at Travelers
The Aussie ace delivers scintillating Saturday as he refuses to let pain linger Determined Adam Scott has lifted the lid on the letdown of US Open heartbreak and his desire to fight straight back off the canvas at The Travelers. The Aussie ace put himself position to win a cherished second Major of his stellar career last week at Oakmont only to endure a last-day nightmare. As JJ Spaun pipped Bob MacIntyre to the title , Scott, who was playing his 96th straight Major, slipped back to be a late-Sunday also-ran with a torturous 79 and it was a bitter disappointment. The 44-year-old, who was aiming to add to his 2013 Masters success, didn't attempt to hide that it was a sore one to take, but Scot's response has been typical of the professionalism and outstanding attitude which has made him one of the most admired and respected stars in the game. The Adelaide-man built back up through the opening two days at TPC River Highlands before unleashing a stunning eight-under par round of 62 on Saturday. It equalled Scott's lowest-ever round on Tour and he outlined the drive to get back on the bike and go again after the anguish of the Oakmont finale. Asked if the US Open setback was a physical or mental drain, Scott said: 'It was a tough one. It was like a real letdown draining, not like a confidence and fatigue. It was a big letdown on Sunday last week. I knew I was going to have to play this week, but I actually think now the last couple years having these Signature Events after Majors, not that I've been in contention at all the Majors, but having to change my habits a little bit. 'For my whole career, I pretty much took every week off after a Major and, all of a sudden, we're playing big events right on the back of it. So I'm using Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday wisely, I think is big for me. 'I think just having been out here so long, knowing that it can be one round or one shot or something can really turn it around. I've got a lot of work to do for the rest of this season, there's still some big tournaments to play and I'd rather leave with the confidence shooting 62 than kind of mailing it in and maybe shooting 70 or 72 and not really getting anything out of it. I'm out here for a reason, so I'll try and get the most out of it if I can. 'I hate to say, but I feel more fatigue at this point in the season than I did 10 years ago. It's just a fact of the matter and it's smart if I take it pretty easy for a few days. Like definitely not come out to the course Monday, Tuesday, unless I've really got something to fix or need to do, but don't use the energy. Fortunately, I've been coming to these places a long time and know the course and it's really about conserving energy and just having a bit of recovery so that, hopefully, when you're in contention the next weekend, there's plenty in the tank still." Many stars have opined that the less-punishing nature of TPC River Highlands offers welcome respite post Oakmont, but Scott, who is likely to contend at The Open next month at Royal Portrush, smiled: 'I think the rough certainly in areas is longer than I've ever seen it here. Down the right of one on Thursday, I kind of hit a pretty okay tee shot just in the rough and like was hacking. I'm like: I can't believe this! 'But yes, generally, the way my the way my years gone where I've played not up to scratch, when you play the signature event and the Majors and a couple other tough events through Florida and it's hard to break par, I feel like I haven't really broken par very much. I haven't been playing horrible, but I haven't been playing great. So it's nice to have a round like today, we get it going a little bit.' Scott putted superbly and added: 'If I started talking to you about like how you manage these parts of the game, you'd think we're all crazy. But I didn't even feel like I had a problem putting yesterday. Yeah, I hit one off the green, but it was windy and quick. The I hit good putts and they didn't go in. Nothing felt bad other than they missed, they lipped out and they burned the edges and they added up to be a lot. 'It's super annoying, but I don't get discouraged by that because it doesn't feel bad. I hit a putt today that's the worst part I've hit in recent memory and it's one of my better rounds. That bothers me more. I didn't really change anything technically other than just something to allow a bit more freedom.'
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Patrick Cantlay rolls back the clock as familiar surroundings put team game specialist on course to be American hero
Ultimate team competitor scrapping to make Bethpage team in September Patrick Cantlay is rolling the clock back 14 long years to serve notice that he can again be the ultimate Ryder Cup superhero for the United States at Bethpage. The American star's failure to elevate himself to the next level in recent times has been a constant topic amongst golf fans. At one stage, Cantlay was No.3 in the world and it was assumed that Majors and titles would flow, but it has not panned out in such smooth fashion. Now aged 33, he is down to World No.20 and hasn't won a tournament on the PGA for almost three years since a success at the BMW Championship. However, during the individual win drought, Cantlay has managed to reserve some of his best stuff for the team events. In 2023, he was the one who stood tallest for the States as they were being hammered by Europe in Rome. Amid the controversy of his non-hat wearing and relentless stick from the home-team supporters in Italy, he was the one who instigated the mini-fightback for Zach Johnson's men with his brilliant display on Saturday which ended with Rory McIlroy having an argument in the car park. Cantlay didn't perform to his own levels again in 2024, yet once more, he had plenty in the tank for the team games and produced a special moment in the Presidents Cup when he holed a stunning putt in darkness on the 18th to win his match against Internationals Si-woo Kim and Tom Kim. Go back to his outings in the 2019 and 2022 Presidents Cups and also the American routing of Europe at Whistling Straits in 2021, where he didn't lose a game, and it's a record in team events which Bradley knows all about, just as he's aware of the fearsome partnership he's built with Open champ Xander Schauffele. Yet, rated as one of the best players never to have won a Major, his record in the big ones this season is poor with missed cuts at both the PGA Championship and the US Open and this could leave a big dilemma for captain Keegan Bradley. Currently 13th in the points list for the States, Cantlay is going to need a pick from his skipper for New York unless he suddenly hits the booster button with form. Logic says his past record would suggest he would get one and be deserving of it, but nothing is a gimme with so many hungry talents snapping at his heels. Cantlay needs results and, having come fourth in the Truist and tied-12th at The Memorial in the past few weeks, he looks on course for another important finish up the standings in Connecticut after two good days at the Travelers Championship. It is, of course, a special place for Cantlay. It's where it all began. At the 2011 Travelers Championship, he made PGA history as a 19-year-old. Two weeks after taking his final exams, he played his first Tour event at the US Open and was best amateur at Congressional before that terrific work carried straight into TPC River Highlands. Cantlay fired a second-round 10-under 60, the lowest round ever by an amateur on Tour, to announce himself onto the big stage. Opening rounds of 67 and 68 are not quite the incredible numbers of 14 years ago, but the comfort levels seem similar and needs to keep producing more of the same to attract Bradley's attention with a host of young guns hunting places for the clash against Luke Donald's team. Cantlay feels right at home at Travelers and, after his second round, he said: 'It's so great to see this tournament evolve over the years. It's become one of the best on tour and I know, speaking for a lot of the guys, we really look forward to coming this week. It doesn't feel like 14 years ago that I played my first one, but it's been real cool to see how much better the golf tournament's got each and every year.'
Daily Record
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Inside Adam Scott's incredible 96 in a row numbers as golf star eyes Major No 2
Brilliant Australian sublime again as he hears 100-straight Majors Awesome Adam Scott insists it's no fluke to be in the US Open mix during the latest charge of his remarkable Major sequence. The Adelaide ace is on the brink of a cherished second big one at Oakmont as he sits just one shot behind leader Sam Burns with 18 holes to go. Incredibly, Scott is playing in his 96th consecutive Major championship in a stretch which dates back to The Open at 2001 at Royal Lytham and St Annes. During this period, he has won the Masters in 2013, finished in the top 10 on 20 occasions and has made the cut in 72 of the 95 majors in which he's competed. Scott's number of successive Major outings is almost double that of next best Jordan Spieth amongst the current crop of players and getting over the line would be special and not happen by accident. He said: 'It would be super fulfilling. Everyone out here has got their journey, Putting ourselves in these positions doesn't just happen by fluke. It's not easy to do it. I really haven't been in this kind of position for five or six years or feeling like I'm that player. But that's what I'm always working towards. It's not that easy to figure it all out. But if I were to come away with it, it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career. I'm playing good, so there's no reason not to. 'I'm playing from the fairway a lot. I've played fairly conservative,and I haven't really been forcing the issue much. Could be a different story [on Sunday]. A lot can happen in 18 holes out here. But I like what I've done so far.' Scott, whose best previous US Open finish was 10 years ago at Chambers Bay when Spieth won, has coped superbly day-to-day with changing conditions and challenges and was at it again during the Saturday round which has set him up for the final push. He said: 'It was like a readjustment. Obviously it was softer and controlling spin to some pins was very difficult. But I just tried not to force anything. I played safe shots and accepted I wasn't going to finish next to the hole when it wasn't dialled in, like on the 18th. I had not a really good number and I had to throw it out to the right. I had a terrible shot, but I hit it out to the right just not to miss it left and I think I've managed it well. 'I don't know about the yardage books, but I would say I was less overwhelmed coming to Oakmont this time and that's not a knock on the golf course, but maybe just a couple trips around the U.S. Open here, I knew what to expect.'
Straits Times
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Jack Nicklaus recounts US Open win in Arnold Palmer's backyard
Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller speak at a press conference during the third round of the US Open. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect OAKMONT – The way Jack Nicklaus describes the challenges of Oakmont Country Club in 1962 can just as easily apply to Oakmont in 2025. The character of this championship golf course has not changed. 'I knew that you had to drive the ball straight,' he said on June 14. 'I knew that putting was going to be a premium on this golf course.' Here is where Nicklaus' story differs. To secure his first Major championship – and, in fact, his first professional victory of any kind – he also had to go toe to toe with Arnold Palmer, the best and most popular golfer in the world. And for Palmer, from nearby Latrobe, this was a home game. 'I finished second (at the US Open) in '60 and fourth in '61 and I sort of felt like this was my Open,' Nicklaus said. 'I didn't realise that, as a 22-year-old might not, that I was in Arnold Palmer's backyard.' Palmer, 11 years Nicklaus' senior, already was established with five Majors, including the Masters that year. And Palmer's galleries were the stuff of legends. In Western Pennsylvania, the throngs were even deeper. When Palmer and the up-and-coming Nicklaus finished 72 holes in one under, they were sent to an 18-hole play-off the next day. Nicklaus stunned the fans by building a four-stroke lead through six holes, and he endured a mid-round charge by Palmer to win the play-off by three. 'It was really kind of funny because I never really heard the gallery,' Nicklaus said. 'I was a 22-year-old kid with blinders on and not smart enough to figure out that people rooted for people. I just went out and played golf. 'I never really considered Arnold as something different. Arnold took me under his wing when I turned pro, and he never treated me anything other than as an equal, and became one of the closest friends I've ever had in the game.' Also on hand to speak with reporters on June 14 was Johnny Miller, who wrote his own chapter of history the next time the US Open was held at Oakmont in 1973. Miller had shot a 76 in the third round and was outside the top 10, six strokes off the lead. He proceeded to author a US Open-record 63 on the Sunday, passing both Nicklaus and Palmer on the leaderboard to win in stunning fashion. 'I had played with Arnold Palmer the first two rounds, which was, back in those days, was a crazy experience with his gallery,' Miller said. 'His gallery was – they were crazy. Crazy good. 'But to get through the gauntlet of playing with Arnold on the first two rounds was pretty good. We both shot 140, and just handling the pressure that week was – that was the other part.' This year's US Open marks the first at Oakmont since Palmer's death in September 2016. Three months earlier, Dustin Johnson lifted the trophy at Oakmont, but Palmer was not healthy enough to attend. Nicklaus called Palmer's impact on the game 'enormous', while Miller opted for an analogy to John Wayne as a 'big-time man's man'. 'He came along basically when television came along, and maybe television was great for Arnold, but Arnold was great for television and great for the game,' Nicklaus said. 'He had a flair about him that nobody else had, and people loved him. And rightfully so.' The world of golf has changed in the decades since. Nicklaus received US$17,500 for winning the 1962 US Open; the champion in this latest edition will take home US$4.3 million. But at Oakmont, the affection for Palmer and his career has not died down, nor has the modern-day player's respect for their elders. 'I was talking to some of the guys in there, in the locker room a few minutes ago, and they're saying – they said, 'What do you think (of the course)?'' Nicklaus said. 'I said, 'Well, obviously putting is the key out here'. I said, 'I three-putted the 55th green. I had one three-putt that week and I'm still ticked off I three-putted that one. That was sort of my mindset'.' Miller, in the true tell-it-like-it-is vein of his broadcasting career, added a jab at the 2024 champion who missed the cut. 'It's still all about hitting that ball in the fairway,' Miller said. 'You see the guys that don't – like Bryson DeChambeau, he was living in the rough there these last couple days. Of course he gets to watch it on TV today.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
IOL News
12-06-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Oakmont the ultimate US Open challenge . . . Can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler?
Scottie Scheffler is chasing back-to-back Majors at the US OPEN at Oakmont Country Club. Image: Andrew Redington / Getty Images via AFP Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler launches his bid for back-to-back major titles as the US Open gets under way on Thursday. The world's top golfers face an ultimate challenge at Oakmont, where dense rough, sloped fast greens and tricky bunkers have Scheffler among many calling it the hardest course they might ever play. "This is probably the toughest golf course in the world right now," defending US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau said. Scheffler noted the tall rough, saying, "What's so special about this place is pretty much every time you're off the fairway it's going to be very difficult for you to get the ball to the green." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Scheffler, whose nine wins last year included Paris Olympic gold, has won three of his past four starts and his matchup against iconic Oakmont is golf's version of a heavyweight showdown. It begins at 1.25pm (7.25pm SA Time) when he starts off the first tee alongside fourth-ranked American compatriot Collin Morikawa and Norway's Viktor Hovland. After capturing last month's PGA Championship for his third major crown, Scheffler is trying to become the first man to win consecutive majors since Jordan Spieth in 2015 by taking his first US Open title. Scheffler is a heavy oddsmakers' favorite but tries to ignore such things, especially after bettors forced him to dump his Venmo account. "I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn't win. It wasn't a good feeling," Scheffler said. Second-ranked Rory McIlroy, who won the Masters in April to complete a career Grand Slam, and DeChambeau, who won last month at LIV Golf Korea, will be among the first to test Oakmont after Indianapolis dentist and former Oakmont caddie Matt Vogt hits the opening shot off the first tee at 6.45am.
