‘Impressive’: Scott stirs passion to end drought

Adam Scott presents as the level-headed, calm, veteran superstar who lets his golf swing do the talking.

But in the team room at the Presidents Cup, his passion for the long-suffering International outfit comes to the fore according to teammate Jason Day, who said it was Scott driving the passion to turn the tide and he was “pretty impressive” when it came to delivering an inspirational message.

Scott has played on 10 Presidents Cup team stretching back to his 2003 debut, without a win, and Day said the 44-year-old, still Australia’s highest-ranked player after an ultra-consistent, albeit winless, 2024 was the most desperate to turn the tide against the rampant American outfit at Royal Montreal Golf Club this week.

Day said the youthful exuberance of the next generation of Presidents Cup stars, including Tom Kim, brought exceptional enthusiasm for the event, but Scott was keeping them all invested.

“Who brings the energy? Tom Kim. For a young guy, you can tell he loves this environment,” Day said ahead of this weekend’s action.

“And Scotty from the sheer experience of, like, being on 11 Cups. But I feel like there’s just so many guys out there that are just so great at a lot of things. But those guys – when it comes to passion – I know you guys probably won’t get the opportunity to hear Scotty in a team room.

“When you hear Scotty in a team room, it’s pretty impressive.

“You can hear how much he wants to win one. I think it’ll only take one. If we can get one, I think that’ll change the tide a little bit.”

The Americans have won all but one Presidents Cup since 1998, a run broken only by a tie in 2003.

But Day, who played his first Presidents Cup in 2011, is not bothered by past results and senses something different in this new outfit despite knowing the enormity of taking down a USA team with five of the world’s top 10 players.

“My first one was 2011 down in Australia, and I would say over the years, just watching over the years, the guys have gotten a lot closer, and not necessarily the same guys over and over again, but I’m just saying that the actual team element, the team environment has shifted a lot since when I first started,” he said.

“My first Presidents Cup I was excited. I’m not sure the team environment was as passionate as we have now. That kind of hurt my drive to want to compete.

“I know that it’s improved dramatically, especially when Ernie (Els) kind of took over, changed the flag to the shield, and then we had Nick Price, as well, who was a great captain.

“I’ve missed the last couple, so it’s nice to be able to get into a room and have guys very passionate about trying to win the Cup. We know that we’re stepping in the right direction.

“I think with what we’ve got now, from the experienced guys to the rookies, you can just see it in our group texts, you can see it in our talks when we have the captains come and talk and the guys talk, they want it really bad,

“It’s going to happen at some point. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”