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Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.
Adam Scott’s resolute victory in Sunday’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club kept his home country of Australia rolling on the PGA Tour in 2020. With his first victory on the PGA Tour in nearly four years – and the 14th of his career – the 2013 Masters champion became the sixth man from Down Under to win on professionals tours around the world this year.
Last year, just two Australians registered victories around the world. Well, the men from Oz passed that the first month of 2020.
Scott joined Cameron Smith (Sony Open) and Marc Leishman (Farmers Insurance Open) as winners on the PGA Tour, while Lucas Herbert (Omega Desert Classic) and Min Woo Lee (Vic Open) earned their maiden victories on the European Tour. Wade Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open on a tour co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours.
Scott, who got the best of rugged Riviera and won by two shots over Scott Brown, Sung Kang and Matt Kuchar and by three over world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, credits the Presidents Cup in Australia in December for spurring on his countrymen.
The Internationals nearly pulled off the upset of the Americans before falling late, 16-14, at Royal Melbourne. Scott, Smith and Leishman played on that team.
“I’ve seen it before, with some guys off the back of an incredible Presidents Cup experience where there’s pressure out on the golf course and guys really learning and elevating their games and then putting that into practice the next time they’re in a pressure situation,” Scott said Sunday. “I know I did that back in 2003, we played in December in South Africa and I remember leading the Players going into Sunday but using that pressure situation playing with Ernie (Els) in South Africa as a way to know that I can handle it, and I think some of us might have done that off the back of this Presidents Cup.
“And it’s certainly motivation for me seeing Cam and Marc win to come out and make sure I’m not the one lagging behind, so over to Jason (Day).”
Day, who has played well but is winless since 2018, won’t join his mates with a victory this week as he’s not playing the WGC-Mexico Championship. But Australia will be well represented with Scott, Smith, Leishman, Herbert and Scott Hend in the field.
While three of the top-10 players in the world are bypassing the Mexico Championship – world No. 2 Brooks Koepka, No. 6 Patrick Cantlay and No. 9 Tiger Woods – the field is still stacked.
McIlroy, No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 4 Justin Thomas, No. 5 and defending champion Dustin Johnson, No. 7 Scott, No. 8 Webb Simpson and No. 10 Xander Schauffele are teeing it up in the second WGC event of the season.
Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry, reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and Leishman make it 15 of the top 20 in the field.
Major champions Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell and Francesco Molinari are among others playing.
Scott is definitely one of the favorites this week. The last time he ended a winless drought came in 2016 when he won the Honda Classic. The following week his won the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
“I think anytime you’re coming off a drought of wins, I’ve always kind of judged myself and graded myself on winning tournaments and I’ve done that fairly consistently throughout my career, but it’s been nearly four years since I won on the PGA Tour,” he said. “This is an important step for whatever this next few years is in my career. So I think it is important, it can definitely be used for momentum.”
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