adam scott pga tour

Australia's Adam Scott makes the Tour Championship field with a clutch par on the 72nd hole at the PGA Tour play-offs in Delaware

Sport Australia's Adam Scott makes the Tour Championship field with a clutch par on the 72nd hole at the PGA Tour play-offs in Delaware

Adam Scott has shown his grit to scrape into the PGA Tour's rich 30-man Tour Championship with a steely final-round 71 at the tour's second play-off event in Wilmington, Delaware.

Scott needed to make a pressure-filled clutch par from a greenside bunker on the last hole to tie for fifth for the second week running and secure his place in next week's season finale, which offers $US18 million ($26.1 million) to the winner.

With even the last-placed finisher in the 30-man field in Atlanta receiving $US500,000 ($727,000), Scott's clutch bunker shot on Sunday was worth at least half a million US dollars as it tipped him into the field in 29th spot, having started the week at 45th.

Australia's former world number one became the only player to fight his way through both FedEx Cup play-offs tournaments in the past two weeks after starting from outside the required ranking number.

He went into last week's St Jude Championship in Memphis languishing in 77th spot in the Tour Championship standings but rose to 45th after finishing joint fifth to earn his spot in Delaware for week two.

"I guess that's the beauty of the [Tour] playoffs the way they are," Scott said.

"You can scratch it around a lot for the year and have a couple good weeks and get heavily rewarded by getting to East Lake and being in that top 30 and all the perks that come with it."

Scott finished at 10-under on Sunday, four shots behind winner Patrick Cantlay, who edged out fellow American Scott Stallings for the win.

Cantlay became the first player in the 16-year history of the Tour Championship to successfully defend a play-offs tournament title after closing with a 2-under 69.

Cantlay is also the defending Tour Championship winner and will enter the final tournament of the 2021-22 season as the second seed behind world number one Scottie Scheffler.

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It’s in the bag: Adam Scott’s equipment journey is unlike any other

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Scott was a bastion of equipment consistency for years. But now? He's felt a need for change.

Oisin Keniry

It’s a bit unnerving asking Adam Scott questions, partly because he’s such a good listener. Most Tour pros aren’t. But Scotty listens and he listens well. He squints at you without an inkling of emotion, taking it all in, waiting for you to finish. Only then does he jump in and respond. And that response tells you everything.

In mid-January, as we stand in the Dubai morning sun, I get lucky. I’ve chosen the right topic: equipment. And, in particular, his equipment — perhaps the most interesting set of equipment in the game today. And even more in particular, one piece of equipment: the TaylorMade Mini Driver he adores.

“Tommy Fleetwood basically won the Ryder Cup with that thing,” I say, curious to know if Scott, an Aussie, who will never play in a Ryder Cup, is even aware.

“Yeah, f—in’ awesome,” he says with a little zest in his voice. “It’s unbelievable, because so many holes pinch, turn, end at 310 [yards] and 320 now, because they’ve geared the courses for us. And that’s right where the driver [dispersion] is. It’s tight. If you go back to 3-wood, you’re at 270 yards, you’re aways back. But the Mini goes 300 and still in the wide part on a lot of the courses we play. That’s what I look for.”

Those words — what I look for — are perfect for this moment in Scott’s career. As a newly liberated equipment free agent, it’s clear the man has been doing some searching.

IT’S FITTING THAT WE’RE AT THE DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC , standing before this global city’s famous marina skyline, an image that exists in a state of perpetual expansion and change. Kind of like how pro golfers need to be. But Scott was a bastion of consistency for decades. Not just with his fundamentally perfect golf swing but with the tools of his trade. A longtime Titleist player, he reckons he went five straight years without swapping clubs in or out of his bag. Didn’t even change the grind on his wedges when the Tour would visit the bouncy links courses of the UK. In the mid-2000s, when almost all of his contemporaries transitioned from steel to graphite-shafted drivers, Scott held out as long as anyone. Why? Because Tiger Woods was holding out too. And why, if you could help it, would you do anything different from Tiger Woods?

The funny thing is, that stubbornness worked. Scott’s unwavering focus and skill set has made him a 14-time PGA Tour winner and the seventh highest earner in Tour history. In 2013, he became the first Australian to win the Masters, and he’s contended in a dozen other majors, even reaching World No. 1 in 2014. But now, at age 43 — 24 years into his pro career — his mood has changed.

“At this point, for me, it’s kind of adapt or die,” he says. “That wasn’t the decision to be a free agent, but that was definitely a decision last March, after the Bay Hill tournament. I’m like, ‘I gotta get over playing golf the way Adam has always played golf and move with the times a little bit.’”

An untrained eye wouldn’t have noticed any issues. Last spring, Scott was ranked 35th in the world and making plenty of cuts, occasionally lighting up the leaderboard. Exactly what you’d expect from an accomplished and conspicuously fit veteran. But his surroundings were changing. He was now playing alongside the youthful likes of Sahith Theegala, Nick Hardy, Sungjae Im and Matt Fitzpatrick — the future of the PGA Tour.

“It wasn’t one guy in particular; it was everyone I played with,” Scott recalls. “I’m not playing like they are, and I think I’m better than a lot of these guys. But I’m not getting the results.”

That realization kick-started an overhaul of the bag. Nothing was sacred anymore. He switched out a mid-2010s version of the Titleist Pro V1 ball for the 2023 Pro V1x. He figured he was handicapping himself with the older, spinnier model. (He has since moved on to the latest Pro V1.) A new ball begat a new driver, new shafts and even a new set of irons, Miura AS-1s — and, yes, you know what the AS stands for. Scott flew all the way to Japan to tour Miura’s facility, meet with the Miura family and learn everything he could about the brand he was tying his name to . But, for all that progress, he was spotted in May 2023 with three different utility irons in his bag, the surest sign of someone who knows what he wants but isn’t sure he’s found it yet.

Scott’s equipment odyssey has been expedited, of course, because Tour pros are impatient when it comes to results. And the odyssey is ongoing. In Dubai, Scott’s bag looked like this: TaylorMade woods (including that “f—ing awesome” Mini Driver), PING irons, a Srixon 3-iron, rusted-out Vokey wedges and a broomstick L.A.B. putter that looks like a prop from MythBusters . You can bet there’ll be more shuffling. (He tested his way into TaylorMade’s newest driver on the practice range at Riviera two weeks ago.)

Scott smirks when you finger through the clubheads, counting up what must be a Tour-leading five different manufacturers — six if you count his Titleist ball, the only equipment sponsorship deal he currently has. He’s committed to playing cavity-back long irons while continuing to work with Miura on a different set of blades for the top end of the bag. He no longer plays a 3-wood. Rather, he decides each week between a 5-wood and 7-wood, depending on the course and conditions.

This degree of equipment fluidity would make 28-year-old Adam Scott cringe, but here we are. The son of Phil Scott, an amateur clubmaker and PGA professional, he is more curious about his bats than ever before. There was the time in early 2021 when AutoFlex shafts were all the rage. (They still are, to some extent. Crazy demand and low supply sent Rory McIlroy to eBay to buy one for his father.) They became infinitely more popular because Scott put one of the superlight, incredibly whippy shafts into his driver that year.

“AutoFlex shafts — it’s such a crazy thing,” Scott says. “But I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s have a look at this.’ I did some testing with it and got my fastest speeds ever. ‘Okay, let’s play it at the Farmers Insurance Open and let’s see what happens.’ I drove it great that week. I was playing with Jon Rahm, and he was like, ‘What is going on here? Why are you hitting it so far?’”

Scott was the envy of the driving range for a few weeks as the only pro who tapped into secretive Korean tech. But just as quickly as his launch and carry numbers jumped, his overall driving dipped. He had two bad weeks with the new shaft, a trend that ultimately led to the worst driving season of his career. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say — but curiosity can kill the cat.

Scott happily admits his gear testing is “a bit random,” but he struggles to think of another way forward. With the next generation of players grooving scientific swings on launch monitors since childhood, the battle to stay relevant, Scott says, is only getting more difficult. (Six days later, 20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap stunned the golf world with a victory at the American Express Championship at La Quinta.) But that’s what keeps him tinkering. Being open-minded is the only way, even if that means going to school on pro surfers.

Scott watched with envy during the 2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am as surfing legend Kelly Slater took 22 putts around Spyglass Hill. Before the round was even over, Scott demanded to know more about the L.A.B. putter Slater was playing. He then spent the next few years working with the little-known golf start-up — L.A.B. stands for Lie Angle Balance — to create a broomstick-style putter with two grips, 16 different weights and a blue, glossy finish. Its name: the Mezz.1 MAX. Yank the headcovers off Scott’s clubs and that long putter soars above the rest, and with its pointed corners — Scott’s shins have occasionally taken a beating — it just looks… angry. But the result is a happy Aussie. The Mezz.1 MAX has helped him take a faulty — Scott prefers the word temperamental — element of his game and turn it into a strength. He’s gone from being a consistently below-average putter to steadily placing among the 30 best on Tour.

Unsurprisingly, this caught the attention of his Tour brethren. Take Lucas Glover, who went to L.A.B. and simply asked for “the Adam Scott specs.” PGA Tour fans know the rest of the story. Glover’s entire game was revitalized, with consecutive wins in the summer of 2023.

Will Zalatoris, another wickedly talented ball striker who battles a yippy stroke, returned from back surgery in December 2023 sporting the Scott specs too. “How Adam does it is so clean looking,” Zalatoris said two weeks ago, during a T2 finish in LA . Camilo Villegas, lost in the putting wilderness for years, also joined the ranks of L.A.B disciples because of Scott.

“I’ve got to thank Adam in a way,” Villegas said in November. “We did a little trip to Quail Hollow before the [2022] Presidents Cup, and I was watching Adam putt with a broom. He kept rolling it so good and he kept telling me how confident he was feeling. At one point I’m like, ‘Okay, man, let me try it.’”

Fast-forward 14 months, and Villegas, through Scott-like tinkering, had found the L.A.B. wand that worked for him. During a practice round at the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, he even sought out Scott to let him know how great the putter felt. A few days later, the 42-year-old Colombian, winless for more than nine years, was holding the trophy.

THE MILD-MANNERED SCOTT DOESN’T MIND being a trendsetter in this sense. It’s never a bad thing when the decisions you make inspire wins for others. But as the success piles up for those around him, it’s fair to wonder where this equipment journey will take Scott himself. He doesn’t want to say he’s underachieved because he knows there’s plenty of time left. He certainly won’t say he’s overachieved either, because he’s always dreamed of being a multiple-major winner, and when he looks at his trophy collection — at home in Switzerland, where he relocated several years ago with his wife, Marie, and their three young children — he sees just the one. Later this year, he badly wants to lead a Presidents Cup victory over the Americans in Montreal, and the recipe for that team success, he says, is Adam Scott the individual playing like Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm did at the Ryder Cup in Rome .

After an hour, we’ve reached the introspective portion of our talk, but that’s because asking Adam Scott questions gets easier over time. My final one is simple: If 2024 is a great year in Adam Scott’s golfing career, what does Adam Scott think it will look like?

As usual, he lets me get all the words out — and even allows for six seconds of pondering silence. “You know,” he says, “I’d really like to win a couple tournaments. It’s the only thing I really want to do. I’d like to win and show my kids I can win some trophies. They don’t understand why I don’t bring the trophy home ever.”

With that, he was off to the driving range for his first practice session of the year. And maybe to get a peek or two at the gear everyone else was using.

TaylorMade Qi10 Max Designer Series Custom Dr…

Titleist Vokey SM10 Tour Chrome Custom Wedge

L.A.B. Golf MEZZ.1

Latest in gear, collin morikawa's open chances just improved with 1 gear change, a golf bag we love: the ping hoofer stand bag, titleist improves golfer fitting process with new golf-ball fitting app, titleist 731pm irons, trendsetting tiger and gear rabbit holes.

Sean Zak is a writer at GOLF Magazine and just published his first book, which follows his travels in Scotland during the most pivotal summer in the game’s history.

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Adam Scott has an interesting stat after putting AutoFlex shaft in play

Last week, we shared the news that Adam Scott has been testing and was planning to put into play the very buzz-worthy AutoFlex shaft into his Titleist driver ( Adam Scott testing Korean AutoFlex shaft at 2021 Farmers Insurance Open).

The shaft is a unique profile that is lighter and much softer compared to traditional golf shafts played by fast swinging professions, and Adam is the first golfer to put one into play on the PGA Tour.

For the event, in which Adam finished tied for 10th, he averaged 294.6 yards off the tee which is down from his year to date listed driving average of 314 that ranks him 14th on the PGA Tour. Although this is a dramatic drop, it lined up almost identical to his numbers from the 2020 Masters, which was also played in soft conditions.

The big change was his driving accuracy at 42.86 percent, which, when combined with his distance, resulted in a total driving rank of 101—9 spots below his year-to-date rank of 92 (which would have dropped after the results from the FIO).

We’re not sure if this is just an anomaly or a trend from putting such a unique shaft into play, but with so many golfers looking for any way to add distance to their driver, this will continue to be an interesting story to follow.

You can see what other golfers are saying about the AutoFlex in the GolfWRX forums: Adam Scott testing Autoflex

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Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

Pingback: Jimmy Walker, Makes A Drastic Change To Ultra-flexible Auto

Daniel Whitehurst

Feb 3, 2021 at 4:03 am

$800 to hit it squirrelly? No thanks. I’ll stay with my hand crafted black HZRDUS 75 6.5 with the only drawback being it goes too straight and is hard to work at times.

Feb 3, 2021 at 10:41 am

Dont worry its not meant for hacks who are worried about every penny

Feb 2, 2021 at 11:04 am

watch Matt from TXG struggle with it as well, lot of pulls. Seemed like Adam missed left a lot; then he would over correct and push.

Feb 1, 2021 at 10:09 pm

Super gimmicky.

GolfWRX Staff

Feb 2, 2021 at 1:33 am

Golf equipment has been gimmicky since they realized they could sell a “better” mousetrap.

Feb 1, 2021 at 9:59 pm

Certainly did not seem to be helping him at all. He was driving it all over the place, mostly left. Will be very interesting to see if he decides to keep it in the bag, which would mean he sees something.

Feb 1, 2021 at 8:35 pm

Cold, wet, and at sea level. Of course the distance numbers were down. That won’t forgive the accuracy numbers though. I believe he had a Ventus Red last time he teed it up on TV.

Feb 1, 2021 at 5:08 pm

Surprising move for Scott to put it in play and KEEP it in play when he hit those occasional left-2-left drives off the planet. Check out the video that TXG did if you want to see a measured performance of this unique and expensive ($800) shaft.

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This week on the Three Swing Challenge, we have the Edel Array F-2 putter. With the Array line of putters, Edel gives golfers several different options to match their putting styles and tendencies. It is a cool concept, but let’s see how it performs.

Why three swings?

Many years ago, the legendary Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf told us this:

“My formula as a fitter was three shots only. I discounted No. 1 just because it was the first one, counted 100 percent of No. 2 and discounted No. 3 because the player was starting to adjust.”

New plaque commemorates Rory McIlroy’s famous Scottish Open 2-iron shot

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from an article our Andrew Tursky filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. You can read the full article here.  

In case you forgot, McIlroy closed the tournament with back-to-back birdies to snatch the title from Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre. McIlroy’s final approach was a perfectly executed 2-iron stinger to 11 feet, a putt he holed for a one-shot victory.

The shot was so good, in fact, that The Renaissance Club in Scotland commemorated it with a plaque. And McIlroy was happy to recall one of the best shots of his career in his Wednesday press conference. He had not yet seen the plaque but had seen photos posted online.

“To hit two iron shots like that and to hole the putts what I needed to, yeah, it was awesome,” McIlroy said. “Sort of I felt in some ways bad that it came at the expense of Bob but at the same time it was amazing to win a tournament that I had never won before. Good memories and good to be back.”

Looking back, the famous shot actually almost never happened at all … at least, not with a 2-iron.

McIlroy has a 5-wood in the bag most weeks instead of a 2-iron. But in preparation for last year’s trip to Scotland, McIlroy dove into his stash of backup clubs in his garage and pulled out a 17-degree TaylorMade P760 2-iron. The low-flying iron was meant to replace his higher-flying 5-wood, giving him the option to hit the ball a bit lower and with less spin to pierce the Scottish winds.

Obviously, that decision worked to perfection.

You can read the full article here.

Whats in the Bag

Marcus kinhult witb 2024 (july).

• Marcus Kinhult what’s in the bag accurate as of the ISCO Championship. Kinhult was deciding between 3-woods.  More photos from the event here.  

Driver: Titleist GT3 (9 degrees, B1 SureFit setting) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Red RDX 60 TX

3-wood: Titleist TSR2 (15 degrees, D1 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana BF 70 TX

See more in-hand photos of Marcus Kinhult’s equipment here.

3-wood: Titleist GT2 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 70 TX

5-wood: Ping G25 (18 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana Blue 80 TX

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist 620 CB (5-PW) Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper 120 S

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 54-08M, 58-08M, Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper 120 S (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue 120 S400 (54-58)

Putter: Odyssey 2-Ball Ten Armlock

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Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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Adam Scott enters 92nd straight major just as confident as when he started

PINEHURST, N.C. — He has everything and doesn’t need to do this — continuing the grind at age 43.

Not with 14 career PGA Tour victories, including a Masters green jacket, generational wealth and magazine-cover good looks.

Yet Adam Scott refuses to relent, because he still thinks he has it in him, still burns to win and doesn’t mind the grind.

That’s why he’s playing in his 92nd consecutive major championship this week in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst — the longest active streak in the game.

That’s why, after playing five PGA Tour events in a row, Scott was in the 36-hole sectional qualifier field in Columbus, Ohio, last Monday trying to secure a spot into this week’s field.

Scott lost in a playoff, but at 61st in the Official World Golf Rankings (the top 60 are exempt), he got into the field in part because Grayson Murray, who was ranked 59th, was removed from the list after his death by suicide on May 25.

“I just love golf,’’ Scott told The Post on Monday after a lengthy session on the practice range. “That’s all I know how to do. That’s all I’ve ever done. These are the biggest tournaments there are, and even though my game hasn’t been stellar the last couple of years, I still believe I belong here and that I have the ability to still win any given week.

“It doesn’t just happen, of course.’’

Not without the kind of passion and effort Scott continues to pour into this.

In the history of the sport only 18 players have played in 100 major championships. Of those 18, only Jack Nicklaus, with 146 in a row, has played in more than 100 straight.

Scott is already qualified for next month’s British Open at Royal Troon and he has a lifetime exemption to the Masters as a past champion (2013), so his streak will reach at least 94 straight by next April, barring unforeseen circumstances. The streak began at the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham.

“I was a freshman in high school in 2001 and now I’m 37 years old,’’ Bill Horschel told The Post. “That just shows you how impressive Adam’s career has been and the talent that he has. He still believes he’s good enough to win a major, and he still is.

“Even though the Aussie mentality is sort of laid back, he has a fire and desire that still believes he can compete and win out here. You’ve got to give kudos to a guy like that who could just rest on his laurels.’’

Fellow players have been reaching out to Scott this week praising him for keeping the streak alive.

After Scott’s practice session on Monday, he was in the locker room and bumped into world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who won the Memorial on Sunday — his fifth victory in the last eight starts.

“Congratulations on the win,’’ Scott told Scheffler.

“Congratulations on keeping your streak alive,’’ Scheffler responded.

“I’d rather have your streak than mine,’’ Scott told Scheffler with a smile.

“Consistency is something that I revered and respected as a kid growing up in the game where my dad taught me everything … and I think is probably less so today, because we live in an instant world,’’ Scott said earlier.

Scott, who enters this week with only one top-10 finish this year, knows in his heart he should have won more majors in his career. He, too, knows his limitations and is self-deprecating about them.

“I can’t do the same stuff as I did 10 years ago, but I see stuff on the golf course that makes me inspired to keep doing it,’’ Scott said. “It’s not like it’s terrible. I would call it consistently average at the moment.’’

Asked if he ever imagined playing in 92 consecutive majors, Scott said, “The dreamer in me would have believed it. If you asked me in 2005 that I’d play all these majors, I would have said, ‘Yeah,’ because I would have told you I would have won them all by this time.’’

Max Homa marveled at Scott’s relentless grind.

“I’ve become enamored with Adam Scott’s passion for golf,’’ Homa told The Post. “He’s very into it. He’s not lazy in the least and when he plays bad, he’s pissed. He’s had rounds I’ve seen where he played bad and he goes to the gym and just gets after it. I don’t think you can teach that.’’

Fellow Aussie Cam Smith called Scott “probably one of the hardest working guys out here.’’

“He does all the right stuff and doesn’t look like he’s slowing down anytime soon,’’ Smith told The Post. “So, I wouldn’t expect that 92 number to be the end.’’

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'you have to break the ice': adam scott says pga tour-pif negotiations to heat up 'very soon', share this article.

HAMILTON, Ontario – Could progress be in the offing for the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund?

Adam Scott, a PGA Tour player director, has had a seat at the table this year, and as recently as two weeks ago even he said he is perplexed at how the negotiations have stretched into June. When asked at his pre-tournament press conference at the Charles Schwab Challenge about the future of professional golf, he struggled to give a complete answer.

The problem? He said he was still waiting to hear PIF’s end game.

“I think the PGA Tour has a vision of what it wants to look like 12, 18 (months) and then going forward, five, 10 and 20, you know, or at least 10 years down the line, let’s say, and what it should evolve into,” he said. “But at the moment there’s another party that they’re negotiating with that has to believe in that vision as well, and I don’t know exactly what their vision is.”

Speaking to Golfweek at the RBC Canadian Open, Scott said he was confident he will learn that vision soon.

“I think we are getting there, for sure,” Scott said. “Eventually someone is going to have to put it out exactly what it is, and I think that will happen very soon. I think so. You have to break the ice, kind of, and someone has to show a hand. It’s got to happen soon. It’s moving along as quickly as it can.”

When Scott was pushed on if he really believed that the negotiations – which technically began nearly a year ago with the signing of the Framework Agreement on June 6 – were moving fast enough, he said, “It’s not all up to us on our schedule. The head of the PIF sits on 125 boards or something. He’s busy, too. Some would say the buck stops with him and he has to make some decisions on what he’s investing in.”

The PGA Tour already has entered into an agreement for Strategic Sports Group to invest at least $1.5 billion and as much as $3 billion into the Tour’s new for-profit entity. The Tour and PIF met in March in the Bahamas after the Players Championship for the first time. Jimmy Dunne, whose secret meeting with PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan in early 2023 led to the Framework Agreement, resigned from the Tour board in mid-May citing “no meaningful progress” toward a deal with PIF to unify men’s professional golf. Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, both fellow Tour player directors, disagreed with Dunne and called that a false narrative.

“It’s ongoing, it’s fluid, it changes day-to-day,” Woods said ahead of the PGA Championship last month. “Has there been progress? Yes. But it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process, and so we’re making steps, and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.”

Added Spieth: “I just continue to kind of chuckle, because I only feel positive momentum when we’re having these internal conversations, and then every time anything comes from the outside world it’s the opposite, and it just kind of makes me chuckle a bit because it’s a bit frustrating.”

A source for Golfweek said that “very soon” could be as early as next week. The Memorial, the next stop on the PGA Tour and hosted by Jack Nicklaus at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, is typically a gathering spot of leaders of the golf world, and talks could accelerate at Jack’s Place.

A source told Golfweek that the question is how much will the players on the board be willing to compromise? And how much money is PIF prepared to lose?

“It’s who blinks first,” a source said. “It’s not rosy in either camp, so empower Jay (Monahan), put him in a room with Yasir and do a deal.”

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2024 Open Championship odds, top picks, field: Surprising predictions by advanced model that nailed 13 majors

Sportsline's proven model simulated the british open 2024 10,000 times and revealed its surprising pga tour golf picks.

Royal Troon will host the 2024 Open Championship, marking the 10th time the British Open will be contested at the Old Course. Henrik Stenson set a major championship record score of 264 when it last hosted in 2016, and he is one of 20 past champions scheduled to be a part of the Open Championship 2024 field. Others include Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Brian Harman. Meanwhile, the only two champions besides Stenson in The Open 2024 field to win this major at Royal Troon are Justin Leonard (1997) and Todd Hamilton (2004).

Play will begin on Thursday, July 18, with 2014 British Open champion Rory McIlroy (13-2) being the biggest favorite amongst past champions. McIlroy trails only Scottie Scheffler (5-1) on the 2024 Open Championship odds board, while other contenders include Bryson DeChambeau (11-1), Xander Schauffele (14-1) and Collin Morikawa (16-1). Before locking in your 2024 Open Championship picks, be sure to  see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine .

Our proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June 2020. In fact, the model is up nearly $9,500 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

This same model has also nailed a whopping 13 majors entering the weekend, including the 2024 Masters, its third Masters in a row, and this year's PGA Championship and U.S. Open. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns. 

Now with the Open Championship 2024 field locked in, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard .

Top 2024 Open Championship predictions 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2024 Open Championship: McIlroy (13-2), the 2014 Open Championship winner and one of the top favorites, stumbles and doesn't even crack the top five. McIlroy's 10-year major championship drought is well documented, which made his mishaps down the stretch of the U.S. Open even more painful. He missed multiple putts within four feet in the final three holes, leading to a brutal runner-up finish. 

It is going to be difficult for McIlroy to overcome those lingering emotions in the final major of the year, especially since the Open Championship brings its own unique pressure for the Northern Irishman. He has finished outside the top 40 in two of his last four appearances at this tournament, and he did not crack the top 10 at the Masters or PGA Championship earlier this season. McIlroy ranks outside the top 50 on the PGA Tour in GIR percentage, which is another reason why the model is fading him in this year's final major. See who else to fade here .

Another surprise: Jordan Spieth, a 47-1 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. Since 2017, Spieth has eight top 10s at majors, and half of those have come at the British Open. He won the major in 2017, was runner-up in 2021 and has six straight top 25s at the tournament. He also left Royal Troon on a high note when he last played there at the 2016 Open, shooting a final round score of 68, which was the fourth-best Round 4 score of the event.

At his peak in 2015, when he won two majors and had two other top 5s, Spieth's putter was a strength. That slipped in recent years but has rebounded this season as he ranks seventh on tour in putting average (1.717). What has remained strong is Spieth's long game as he's in the top 20 in strokes gained: off-the-tee (0.466), driving distance -- all drives (299.9) and total driving (89). As a past British Open champion with experience at Royal Troon and a game which plays well at links courses, Spieth is severely undervalued per his long Open Championship odds.  See who else to back here . 

How to make 2024 Open Championship picks

The model is also targeting two other golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer to make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big.  You can only see the model's picks here .

Who will win the 2024 Open Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Check out the Open Championship 2024 odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected Open Championship leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed 13 golf majors, including the last three Masters and all three majors this year .

2024 Open Championship odds, field

Get full 2024 Open Championship picks, best bets and predictions here .

Scottie Scheffler 5-1 Rory McIlroy 13-2 Bryson DeChambeau 11-1 Xander Schauffele 14-1 Ludvig Aberg 14-1 Viktor Hovland 16-1 Collin Morikawa 16-1 Tommy Fleetwood 21-1 Jon Rahm 24-1 Shane Lowry 29-1 Brooks Koepka 30-1 Patrick Cantlay 31-1 Cameron Smith 31-1 Joaquin Niemann 33-1 Matt Fitzpatrick 34-1 Tony Finau 34-1 Max Homa 38-1 Tom Kim 40-1 Tyrrell Hatton 40-1 Justin Thomas 41-1 Will Zalatoris 41-1 Hideki Matsuyama 42-1 Robert Macintyre 45-1 Jordan Spieth 47-1 Cameron Young 50-1 Jason Day 50-1 Brian Harman 50-1 Dustin Johnson 50-1 Wyndham Clark 50-1 Min Woo Lee 55-1 Sam Burns 65-1 Louis Oosthuizen 65-1 Sahith Theegala 65-1 Patrick Reed 65-1 Sung-Jae Im 65-1 Corey Conners 65-1 Si Woo Kim 80-1 Adam Scott 80-1 Rickie Fowler 80-1 Justin Rose 100-1 Thomas Detry 100-1 Adrian Meronk 100-1 Tiger Woods 100-1 Padraig Harrington 110-1 Ryan Fox 110-1 Seamus Power 120-1 Kurt Kitayama 120-1 Russell Henley 120-1 Jordan Smith 120-1 Talor Gooch 120-1 Sergio Garcia 120-1 Matthew Jordan 120-1 Tom Hoge 140-1 Billy Horschel 140-1 Alex Noren 140-1 Phil Mickelson 150-1 Gary Woodland 150-1 Mito Pereira 160-1 J.T. Poston 170-1 Keegan Bradley 170-1 Thomas Pieters 170-1 Abraham Ancer 170-1 Matt Wallace 170-1 Sam Bennett 210-1 Keith Mitchell 210-1 Harris English 210-1 Danny Willett 210-1 Alex Fitzpatrick 210-1 Chris Kirk 210-1 Taylor Moore 280-1 Stewart Kink 300-1 Charl Schwartzel 300-1

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Separate ways

This major champion sees the PGA Tour-LIV Golf dispute differently

Says Adam Scott: “I genuinely feel like LIV should get on with what they’re doing and the PGA Tour should get on with what they’re doing and it will all sort out."

Darrian Traynor

MELBOURNE, Australia — Adam Scott and several of his countrymen competing at this week's Australian Open were asked what they made of recent comments from Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods that LIV Golf’s chief executive (and fellow Aussie) Greg Norman "needs to go" before LIV and the PGA Tour can ever come together. But Scott, a former World No. 1, answered the question with one of his own: Why do they need to come together?

McIlroy and Woods have called for Norman to step down , saying the two-time Open champion's disruptive approach won't allow for negotiations between the two organizations. Some see a peace deal between the two tours as necessary for the good of professional golf. Woods and McIlroy believe Norman is waging a “ vendetta ” fueled by his unsuccessful attempt to start a world tour in the 1990s, which then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem shut down.

“Greg has to go first of all. If one side has so much animosity, trying to destroy our tour, then how do you work with that?” Woods said on Tuesday during a press conference at ahead of the Hero World Challenge, also noting that LIV would need to drop its antitrust suit against the tour.

MORE: This week's Australian Open could change the way we think about holding pro events

The way Scott sees it, however, there is nothing wrong with the PGA Tour and LIV going about their business separately as LIV Golf eyes its second season in 2023.

“I guess they‘re [Woods and McIlroy] speaking for the PGA Tour somewhat these day it seems,” Scott said. “But I don’t know what this coming together is. I don’t know, is someone making that up? Like, is that a possibility? I don’t know. I really am not involved at that level at all, and it seems like all speculation to me.

“I genuinely feel like LIV should get on with what they’re doing and the PGA Tour should get on with what they’re doing and it will all sort out. Whether that’s together or not, I have no clue. But I don’t necessarily think that it has to be together or not together for the good of the game. I think the good of the game will prevail, but it’s a big shake-up and we’re not used to that. And that’s where I think it’s at at the moment.”

Controversially funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf debuted this year with seven $25 million events and a $50 million team finale. In 2023, its schedule will grow to 14 events, one of which will be in Adelaide in April, with a focus on the team franchises . In response to LIV’s growing threat, the PGA Tour has created a new series of 13 elevated events where the top 20 stars will be guaranteed starters in the field.

MORE: LIV Golf’s 2023 schedule comes into focus

With Norman overseeing the operation, LIV has already poached PGA Tour stars like World No. 3 Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed among others. Norman says he’s looking to lure more as to beef up LIV’s 12-team rosters, which will grow from 48 to 60 to include a reserve on each team.

Smith and countryman Marc Leishman, who jump from the PGA Tour to LIV in September, backed Norman to stay at the head of the circuit.

“He believes in what he does,” Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Maybe sometimes Greg comes off a little bit abrasive, but he’s just trying to get a point across. He really does believe in this thing. I’ve spoken to him a million times the last four or five events. He believes in it, and he thinks it’s a good product. They’ve gone about things a little bit differently as far as golf is concerned, but they believe in the product and that’s what you want.”

Leishman said Norman had done a “good job” in recruitment during LIV’s first season. "He’s got the players [signing on]. I think it’s something that everyone’s got an opinion on and they’re certainly entitled to that."

Leishman did say he'd be open to playing 72-hole events if it meant LIV players could earn World Ranking points, something LIV events aren’t currently able to offer.

“I think if that’s what it took, I think I would be open to it,” Leishman said. “But one of the things that we knew when we went over to LIV was that there might not be World Ranking points and that was one of the things I certainly took into account when making a decision. So again, that’s out of my control. I’ll go about my business and if we get them, which I hope we do, I would love that. I don’t know what will happen if not, but I think it should happen.”

Despite the Australian Open creating history as the first national open to stage a dual-gender event , LIV remains an inescapable topic.

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Genesis Scottish Open, Round 3: How to watch, featured groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

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The third round of the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open continues Saturday, kicking off back-to-back weeks on TOUR in Scotland. This week, the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour collide in North Berwick, Scotland, at The Renaissance Club where the Genesis Scottish Open will be contested as a co-sanctioned event for the third straight year.

Ludvig Åberg set the pace with back-to-back 64s to take a one-stroke lead in Scotland over Frenchman Antoine Rozner. He remains ahead of a charged field, with close pursuers including Sungjae Im, who sits two back at 10-under, and a large group sitting at 9-under, including defending champion Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.

Here's everything you need to know to follow the action.

How to follow (all times ET)

Special programming alert: Tune in this weekend to "One Shot Away," airing Saturday on CBS:

• Tune in Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on CBS for the fourth episode in PGA TOUR's latest docuseries chronicling the ups and downs on the PGA TOUR’s premier pathway circuit, through the lens of Korn Ferry Tour players. Featuring access in and outside the ropes, episode four focuses on the return of veteran Kevin Roy, college standout Fred Biondi navigating through his season long struggles, and the recent hot streak of Cooper Dossey.

One Shot Away Season 5, Ep. 4 trailer

Television:

• Saturday-Sunday: 10 a.m.-noon (Golf Channel), noon-3 p.m. (CBS)

PGA TOUR LIVE ON ESPN+

Featured groups

• 5:24 a.m.: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland
• 6:09 a.m.: Nick Taylor, Matt Fitzpatrick
• 9:56 a.m.: Alex Noren, Rory McIlroy
• 4:14 a.m.: Min Woo Lee, Max Homa
• 9:19 a.m.: Robert MacIntyre, Adam Scott

Radio on SiriusXM and free at PGATOUR.com/liveaudio :

• Saturday-Sunday: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

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