OAKMONT, Pa. — Adam Scott first played Oakmont Country Club while on a reconnaissance mission with then-defending U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, who lost a ton of balls and shot 83. Scott maneuvered his way around the storied course with considerable ease, and felt pretty good about himself.
Then came the start of the 2007 U.S. Open.
“I hit six greens in two days and flew back to Australia,” he said.
Scott, 44, has seen his share of treachery throughout a long career that has led to a 24th consecutive U.S. Open appearance. A few weeks ago he visited Oakmont for a practice round, hit every fairway on the front side and still shot 3 over par.
The place can be a beast, but so far it has not taken out its brutality on Scott, who has played it with typical respect and reverence and managed his way around efficiently, if not spectacularly.
Scott matched Carlos Ortiz with the low round of Saturday, a 3-under-par 67 that puts him in the final group with leader Sam Burns, just a shot back and tied with J.J. Spaun for second. His scores of 70-70-67 make him just the second player in U.S. Open history at Oakmont to open with three rounds of par or better, joining Curtis Strange, who did it in 1994.
“I’m playing good, so there’s no reason not to,” Scott said. “I’m playing from the fairway a lot. I’ve played fairly conservative, and I haven’t really been forcing the issue much. Could be a different story tomorrow. A lot can happen in 18 holes out here. But I like what I’ve done so far.”
Scott is the only player in the top 10 who has won a major championship. (Scottie Scheffler is tied for 11th, eight shots back). That came 12 years ago at the Masters, where he defeated Angel Cabrera in a sudden-death playoff.
It came nine months after what was perhaps his most crushing loss, when he squandered a four-shot lead by bogeying the final four holes at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s at the 2012 British Open, where Ernie Els was the winner. (Read about it in the SI Vault.)
With a victory Sunday, Scott would set the record for longest time between his first and second major wins, surpassing the 11-year spans for Julius Boros (1952-63) and Ben Crenshaw (1984-95).
“It would be super fulfilling,” Scott said after making four birdies and a bogey. “Everyone out here has got their journey, you know. Putting ourselves in these positions doesn’t just happen by fluke. It’s not easy to do it.
“I really haven’t been in this kind of position for five or six years, or feeling like I’m that player. But that’s what I’m always working towards. It’s not that easy to figure it all out.
“But if I were to come away with it tomorrow, it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career.”
Scott, who has 14 PGA Tour victories and that lone major title at the 2013 Masters, is also playing in his 96th consecutive major championship dating to the 2001 British Open.
It is an amazing run to be at that level for so long, although Scott is the first to admit he’s light on the majors he seemed destined to win with a golf swing to dream about. Jack Nicklaus (146) is the only player to ever compete in 100 consecutive majors or more.
This will be just the third time that Scott is in the final group in the final round of a major, the first during that Open at Royal Lytham in 2021 and again in 2018 at the PGA Championship won by Brooks Koepka.
This is just the seventh time Scott has been among the top three heading into the final round of a major, the first since the 2018 PGA. His last win came at the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
So far, Scott is doing a lot right. He has hovered around even par all week, never worse than 1 over par and only getting to 3 under when he birdied the 17th hole on Saturday.
It’s been a lot of pars, made possible by hitting a lot of fairways. Scott is second in the field in strokes-gained off the tee and third in strokes-gained tee to green.
Putting, often what holds Scott back, has been good enough. He needed 34 putts in the first round by only 27 on Saturday and ranked 25th in the field in strokes-gained putting.
“It was like a readjustment out there today,” he said after considerable overnight rain saturated the course. “Obviously it was softer, and controlling spin to some pins was very difficult. But I just tried not to force anything. I played safe shots and accepted I wasn’t going to finish next to the hole when it wasn’t dialed in, like on 18 I had not a really good number and I had to throw it out to the right—I had a terrible shot, but I hit it out to the right just not to miss it left, and I think I’ve managed it well.”
Scott was asked if he still had his yardage books from his previous U.S. Opens at Oakmont and was amused by the thought, before answering.
“I don't know about the yardage books, but I would say I was less overwhelmed coming to Oakmont this time, and that’s not a knock on the golf course, but maybe just a couple trips around the U.S. Open here, I knew what to expect,” he said.
So far, it’s working out quite nicely.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Adam Scott Eyes a Historic Win While Playing with Respect at Oakmont.