“Old man” Adam Scott is taking a nothing-to-lose attitude as he seeks to convert his rich US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs experience into victory.
One shot in front overnight, Scott shot a two-under 69 on Sunday (AEST) and will go into the final round of the BMW Championship – the second play-offs event – two shots behind the new leader, defending FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay.
Adam Scott is two strokes off the lead.Credit:Getty Images
Also defending the tournament title, Cantlay, posted a 65 including a hole out for eagle from 106 yards on the par-five 14th to take charge at 12 under, one shot clear of fellow Americans Xander Schauffele (66) and Scott Stallings (66).
Australia’s former world No.1 Scott is tied fourth with current world No.1 Scottie Scheffler (68) while Collin Morikawa (65) is a shot further back alongside Aaron Wise (67).
A distant 77th in the Fedex Cup rankings when starting the play-offs last week, Scott boosted his cause with a tie for fifth last weekend and is now in the running to be among the top 30 players who make it to next week’s finale, the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
He’s currently projected to advance in 27th spot if he holds his position.
But 42-year-old Scott has his eyes on victory on Sunday and the $US2.7 million ($3.92 million) BMW Championship’s first prizemoney and was happy to deflect pressure after playing his third round alongside Scheffler.
“I think it’s all for me to gain and nothing to lose,” said Scott.
“I’ve kind of done a fair amount and I’ve been in these positions a lot.
“All eyes are on [the] world No.1 playing with me today and all the young stars, and I’m the old man getting dragged around.
“I feel like it’s all a bonus for me.”
Scott can certainly draw on a ton of rich play-offs experience in the final round.
He is one of only two players to qualify for the play-offs in each of the 16 seasons of the FedEx Cup era, along with Matt Kuchar, and his 19 top-10 finishes in play-offs events is second only to Dustin Johnson’s 23.
He has qualified for the Tour Championship eight times in the FedEx Cup era (2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019) and has a best result in the Fedex Cup of fourth (2013, 2016).
Fellow Australian Lucas Herbert shot a 68 to be tied 18th at five under while Marc Leishman shot 71 and is tied 34th on three under and Cam Davis (75) is a further shot back.
Cantlay or Schauffele could go to No.1 in the FedEx Cup – depending on how Scheffler fares – with a win on Sunday and get to start the Tour Championship with a two-shot lead.
Cantlay knows the value of that from experience. After his play-off win in the BMW Championship last year at Caves Valley, he had the No.1 seed and a two-shot lead at the start and wound up winning by one shot to claim the $US18 million prize.
“My head is not even there right now,” said Cantlay.
“I think the best way to handle this playoff system is to just focus on doing your best in the tournament that you’re in and not worry too much about the points. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
AAP with AP
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