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Adam Scott knows what’s on the line this week at Sedgefield Country Club.
Though it’s early, Scott is off to a great start in his quest to keep his FedExCup Playoffs streak alive.
Scott entered the season-ending Wyndham Championship this week ranked No. 81 in the FedExCup standings, 11 spots outside the cut to make the PGA Tour’s postseason. At a minimum, Scott likely needs a T9 finish this week to have a legitimate chance at making it in.
Knowing what’s at stake, Scott came out firing in what was a rainy start to the tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. Scott, despite making bogey at the second and his last hole of the day, carded a 5-under 65. That gave him the early clubhouse lead.
“I kind of plotted my way around and wasn’t anything spectacular, but nothing too bad either, really,” Scott said. “So, you know, just a bit of a sloppy last hole, but when you shoot 65 you can stomach that, and hopefully get off to a good start tomorrow and keep the momentum going.”
Scott’s lead didn’t hold through the afternoon. Russell Henley flew ahead with an 8-under 62, and Adam Svensson was a shot back with his 7-under 63.
Scott is one of just two players on Tour who hasn’t missed the FedExCup Playoffs since the format was introduced in 2007. Matt Kuchar is the other, and he entered the week at No. 59.
The PGA Tour changed its format this year, too, making it significantly harder to get into the postseason. Only the top 70 golfers, instead of the top 125, make the cut for next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. Then the top 50 will move onto the BMW Championship. Finally, the top 30 will head to East Lake for the Tour Championship.
While he said he liked the new playoffs format — even though he admitted it’s “hard to like it when you’re on the outside” — Scott said his focus this week wasn’t on making it into the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“I’m really thinking about winning the tournament, not just trying to squeak into next week,” Scott said Wednesday. “I probably have to have a pretty high result to get in anyway, so I may as well think about winning. That’s what I would like to do most of the week.”
Scott has won 14 times in his career on Tour, most recently at the Genesis Invitational in 2020. The former World No. 1 entered this week ranked No. 39 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He has three top-10 finishes this season and is coming off a T33 finish at the British Open last month.
While his season hasn’t been great, and there’s still a long way to go this week in North Carolina, Scott has at least put himself in a position to keep his season going. That’s all he can do.
And if he comes up short, so be it.
“At this point, you know, it is what it is,” Scott said Thursday. “I feel like when I come out to play golf, I’m there to give it my best shot and if I make it, I make it, and if I don’t, I don’t.
“I’ve had a lot of years having a go at the FedExCup Playoffs and all these kinds of things come to an end at some point.”