After 54 holes at Oakmont, Adam Scott was 1 stroke away from becoming a 2-time major winner. Had he triumphed, he would have held the record for the longest time between major wins. Rory McIlroy had broken it earlier in the year after he ended his 11-year drought at Augusta National. The stage was set for the 44-year-old to create history, but the weather gods had other plans. Heavy rains and waterlogging changed the dynamics of the course on Sunday. That pushed Scott down the leaderboard with a 9-over 79 in the final round and a T12 finish. Weeks after the scenes at Oakmont, an analyst reopened the Australian golfer’s wounds and rubbed in some salt from the past.

In a podcast on the Golf on CBS YouTube channel, Shane Bacon and Patrick McDonald shared their list of 10 best one-time major winners. As they were closing in on the top of the list, McDonald mentioned how he ranks Jason Day higher than Adam Scott because of his incredible records in majors. Between 2010-17, Day had 14 top-10 finishes in majors, including his iconic win in the 2015 PGA Championship over Jordan Spieth. This also included 4 of his 5 runner-up finishes in majors.

From 2011 to 2018, Scott finished in the top 10 13 times in the majors. He wore the Green Jacket after winning the 2013 Masters Tournament. However, the 44-year-old only had 2 runner-up finishes during that period. His high finishes were also a bit more spread out as compared to Day’s consistent push for wins. Hence, Patrick put Scott 4th on his list of great one-time major winners and his fellow Australian in 3rd.

However, he did state, “His major resume, two runner-up finishes, 9 top fives… It feels like he should have more than the nine top fives, which is obviously a ton. But I just felt, looking through his career, he could have squeezed more out of it. So I dropped him to 4, put Jay Day at 3.” That prompted Shane to ask his co-host to pull up Scott’s major record on Wikipedia.

“The early part of his career, when he was young and he was like the next Tiger (Woods), it was bleak. And then the last 6 years have been bleak. All of the major success was in that little window when he ended up winning the Masters. And outside of that, it has not been great,” Bacon said, summarizing Adam Scott’s record in the majors over the years. He was on the trajectory to follow the path of the big cat after a series of consistent wins early in his career.

However, Scott was not able to maintain the consistency and fell off the path that everyone presumed he was on. The duo went through the PGA Tour veteran’s record in the majors over the past 23 years. It showed how Scott got most of his major success from 2011 to 2018. Outside of it, he has won other titles, but hasn’t really been impactful in the biggest events.

While a major win might still be evading him 12 years later, there is another big obstacle that Adam Scott might want to overcome at the moment. Let’s see what might be his goal right now as he prepares for his next challenge.

Adam Scott is desperate for a win

It has been over 5 years since Adam Scott last won on the PGA Tour. In 2020, the Australian golfer captured the Genesis Invitational title by beating a field that included Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy to win by 2 strokes. Since then, he has failed to add a single title to his trophy cabinet. He has come close quite a few times with 17 top-10 finishes that included 3 runner-ups. And his last 2nd-place finish came in an event that he will play in next week.

In the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open, Scott went head-to-head with Robert MacIntyre in the final round. The two shared blows until the very last hole. However, a 22-foot birdie on the 18th by the Scottish pro helped him steal the win from his Australian peer. This year, the Genesis Scottish Open boasts the second-strongest field of the season. While it won’t be an easy task, Adam Scott had overcome these odds back at Oakmont. There is no reason why he can’t replicate that again and better his record in the tournament from 2024 to win the title.