TROON, Scotland — After falling victim to a stunning finish from Bob McIntyre to win the Scottish Open on Sunday, Adam Scott will be hoping to pull off a win with a strong performance this week at Troon.
Scott, who held a two-stroke lead with two holes to go and watched as MacIntyre played the final two holes at three under par to win, said, “Hopefully I can play well next week. This is the first time this year I’m in the running to win and I’m happy with the direction my game is going. I feel like I’m playing at a high level.”
“I’m happy to be in the running to win it. Hopefully I can give it another go, this time at the Open. I’ve had fun playing in some big matches, so I’m excited to be in good shape going into a major this week. It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of competition.”
Scott, who turns 44 this week, showed his usual top-notch attitude by praising McIntyre despite the loss.
“I’m delighted for Bob’s win,” he said. “It’s a big win. I played him on Saturday (in the third round) and you can hear the (Scottish) crowd singing along, so it’s great for him.”
“It’s disappointing we came up short, but Bob did what he needed to do to win – eagle, par, birdie – that’s great,” Scott said.
Tiger Woods played an 18-hole practice round at Troon for the second straight day on Monday, playing alone on Sunday and with Justin Thomas and Max Homa on Monday.
Woods is scheduled to speak to the media at his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday.
Rory McIlroy fell four strokes off the lead on Sunday in his first tournament since his U.S. Open final-round failure, failing to defend his Scottish Open title from a year ago.
“It would have been nice to have a real battle for the win at the end of the tournament,” McIlroy said. “Overall, I feel like my game is in really good shape heading into the final major of the year.”
McIlroy, who is aiming for his first major championship in 10 years, said he wants to “blow off some rust and get in shape” by playing in the tournament a week before the major.
“I feel like I achieved that at the Scottish Open,” he said.
“I played (Troon) eight years ago and I remember it well,” McIlroy continued. “The bunkers are pretty tough so you’ve got to have a strategy to get around them.”
