Adam Scott was leading by two strokes with four holes to go, but despite making no notable mistakes late in the round, he just couldn’t get the lead.
Instead, he watched as Scotsman Robert MacIntyre overtook him, edging out the Australian with an eagle, par and birdie to take home the Genesis Scottish Open title by one stroke.
“It was a close call, but Bob did what he needed to do to win. Eagle, par, birdie, great play,” Scott said.
“It felt really good to come here and I played the best I’ve played this year and in a really long time. It was good to be in the mix… but I’m happy for Bob. This is a big win. I’m glad I played with him.” [Saturday]”I can hear him singing it up there. I think it’s great for him and I hope he can do well next week.”
Scott played a great round, except for a few mistakes that ultimately cost him the round. After three birdies in the first nine holes to jump up to 16 under, Scott made a double bogey on the par-four eighth hole. He missed his third shot and fell back to 14 under for the first time that day. But Scott bounced back on the next hole, Make a hole in the sand He made an incredible two shots on the par-3 ninth hole.
A birdie followed on the par-5 10th hole, then Scott drilled his approach into 17 inches on the par-3 14th hole for another birdie, but a poor approach shot on the 15th hole resulted in a bogey.
“I knew I was in the lead after the 14th hole, then I bogeyed the 15th,” Scott added.
“I knew I had to at least get a birdie on the 16th hole, and I tried to get a birdie on the last hole.”
He managed to make four on the par-five 16th hole (the same one where MacIntyre made eagle) but, unlike the Scotsman, the Australian missed a birdie attempt on the 18th hole that proved the difference between victory and defeat.
“The putt was pretty hard to read. I hit it along the spine so I read it as going straight. It was along the spine but it went a little bit to the right,” Scott said of his final 14-foot birdie attempt.
“It was fun actually, playing some important matches, so now I have a bit of peace of mind and I’m excited to go into a major tournament next week in good shape because it’s been a while since I’ve been able to say I played a match like that.”
Scott’s last runner-up finish was at the 2021 Wyndham Championship, when Kevin Kisner beat Scott and four others in a six-man playoff. Scott’s last win was at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 2020, and this week saw his winless streak extend to nearly four and a half years.
But he will be making his 93rd consecutive major appearance at Royal Troon, home of the British Open next week.
“I think we need to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing,” Scott said.
“It’s been great to test some of the changes we’ve made over the last few weeks. [on Sunday]”Not everything was perfect, but it was good to have some things going well. If I find myself on a hot day next week, hopefully I can rely on the good things that are happening.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
