The Emirates Australian Open has taken on greater importance this year, serving as a perfect manner for numerous contributors of the International side to prepare for the Presidents Cup. And although Matt Jones won the 2019 Emirates Australian Open, Adam Scott can whet the appetite with some other victory on home ground.
The First Champion
Australia’s first Masters champion could be really key to this week’s crew event, a player on whom Ernie Els will desire to depend, and he’s been speaking tough inside the construct-up, asking local fans not to cheer for Tiger Woods at Royal Melbourne.
Outstanding Record
Scott has really shown the outstanding record. He’s played in 13 previous Australian Opens and has hit the top-five on six occasions, a strike-rate which alone suggests his prospects of cracking the top six or seven here have been underestimated. He basically is flawless if not counting one missed out tournament which is a long-ago story to be told. Though it can be said that the miss out could have stood as the motivation and dedication for the future wins in the tournaments.
Talking about the win, Scott is the one who has the biggest chance to win the Presidents Cup that will be held from 12 to 15 December 2019 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, but it should also be mentioned that he has not taken part for already 3 years. Though this can be his winning tendency.
If you still underestimate the importance of the event to Scott, he has described and highlighted it in his interview. Scott said earlier that his biggest regret is that “I didn’t win more Aussie Opens, or majors for that matter, in a period when I’d say I played my best golf from 2011 through to the end of 2016.”
Scott may never have a better chance to double up in this event, with his 40th birthday approaching in 2020 and a family life demanding more and more of his time. He almost has odds in his favor can inject life into Els’ Presidents Cup mission with a popular victory.
The Follow-Ups
As for his current form, Scott was 11th in the WGC-HSBC Champions last time out, a third-round 75 costing him a place. It was an extension of the form he’s shown since finishing eighth in the PGA Championship in May, after which he moved to 17th in the world having been outside the top 40 in January. To underline the consistency of his play since Scott has been no lower than 20th and no higher than 15th since the start of summer.
Given that Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Casey are next in the betting, the pair often criticized for their lack of victories, and that Marc Leishman still hasn’t won a top-tier tournament on home soil, and that Abraham Ancer is surely underpriced ahead of his title defense, and that you only have to get to 25/1 for a player like Matt Jones, the 2015 winner who hasn’t been in the world’s top 100 for over three years now, Scott’s prospects here are very difficult to ignore.
For Australians, this event does mean something greater, and historically it’s taken an elite overseas participant to hold it from them. This 12 months, Scott’s biggest threat seems to come back from his compatriots and, for now, he remains on the pinnacle of the tree.