Adam Scott BLASTS PGA Tour course setup: "Think smarter, not longer"

Tiger Woods and Adam Scott claim the driver is the most important club in the bag in 2019. 

Andy Roberts's picture
Mon, 19 Aug 2019
Adam Scott BLASTS PGA Tour course setup: "Think smarter, not longer"

Adam Scott has blasted the PGA Tour over its tournament course setups following another week of relentless scoring at Medinah, a course measuring close to 7,700 yards. 

The second stage of the FedEx Cup Playoffs resulted in 64 of the 69 players competing at the BMW Championship finishing under par. 

Those stats won't be changing anytime soon in the eyes of the 2013 Masters champion until the PGA Tour changes its course setup, especially from the tee. 

"They haven't figured out yet that long means nothing to us - you can't build it long enough," Scott said on Saturday evening, speaking after watching Hideki Matsuyama shoot a course-record 63 on Friday (a score Matsuyama repeated on Sunday), which was then beaten by eventual winner Justin Thomas' course-record 61 on Saturday. 

"I'm not surprised to see low scores out here. If a golf course is soft we are just going to tear it apart."

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Scott explained that to be successful on the PGA Tour these days, you just need a reliance on being able to rip your driver as far as possible, particularly given the forgiveness of all the latest premium drivers in the game. 

"I'm not challenging officials and course designers to build long courses, I'm challenging them to build smarter golf courses," added Scott, who averaged 308 yards last week. 

“If you require us to shape tee shots to get it in play we’re going to struggle. [Now] we just play straight, everything is straight. While there is an option to go over trees and over bunkers, it is just relentless.

"The driver is the most forgiving club in the bag now; it’s just swing as hard as you can and get it down there far. It’s not a skillful part of the game anymore and it’s really unfair for some guys who are great drivers of the golf ball. I don’t think their talents are showing up as much as they should.”

Scott finished tied ninth on 14-under par at the BMW Championship, enough to progress into the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake where the Australian will start the week on 3-under in a new staggered start in the race for the FedEx Cup. 

Tiger Woods may have lost out on his place in the 30-man Tour Championship this week - a tournament he memorably won in 2018 - but the 15-time major champion was quick to echo Scott's comments where the driver was concerned.

"When I first came out on Tour and before me, especially, there’s a lot of 1 irons and stuff off the tees. Just kind of get it in play,” said Woods, who finished tied 37th on 7-under par at Medinah.

"Now, you just pull out driver, bomb it down there and you’re looking for three to four good weeks a year. That’s how you play. It’s not the consistency, it’s not about making a bunch of cuts.

"It’s about having three, four good weeks a year. That’s the difference. The guys understand that.

"With today’s equipment, you can maximise a driver and just absolutely just bomb it and some of the guys sacrifice stuff around the greens or short irons for the driver. The driver is the most important club in the bag now just because of the way the game is played."

Justin Thomas won the BMW Championship on 25-under par, and averaged 315 yards off the tee for the week.