Why haven't the Internationals won more? Adam Scott criticizes himself

It's January 15th and Adam Scott and I are behind the driving range at Emirates Golf Club, Dubai. It's Monday for the Dubai Desert Classic, which is Scott's season opener. He recently featured in a number of photos for the March issue of GOLF Magazine and has been moving smoothly from one issue to the next.

LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann comes by our seats to greet us and playfully asks Adam why still speaking to this reporter. Joaco is never wrong. Scott and I have been yawning for 45 minutes now, and it's almost lunch time. We only have one pressing topic to discuss: the upcoming Presidents Cup.

It may have been eight months away at the time, but the topic of major league golf tournaments is ripe for consideration at any time of the year. Partly because it has been more than two decades since the Internationals won this team championship against the United States, but also because Scott saw the Ryder Cup in Rome. It was only three months new at the time, and because of the result – a great victory for the European Team – it was still discussed in the headlines, press conferences, and even the Full Swing documentary. At the driving range in Dubai, where the only American Ryder Cupper in the field was Brian Harman, Team USA's poll was still alive.

“One of these years,” I told Scott, then a 10-time international team member, “you're going to destroy that American team and it's going to scare people.”

He agreed. Whether it was for the sake of an upcoming international victory or whether it would send shockwaves through their opponents, Scott had thought this through. And his gut was regret.

“Look, I think I should be more critical of myself,” Scott said that day. “I think it's coming. I think the team from the last two cups has gone amazingly well. I should be the leader with a four and a half point win. No [going] 2-2. That doesn't happen.”

Unfortunately for him, he's right. Scott will wrap it up this week in his 11th (consecutive!) Presidents Cup, making him the most experienced player in the role. Now 44 years old, the last time the Internationals lost something in the event, he was a 23-year-old rookie playing alongside Ernie Els.

Scott went 3-2 that week, in team play. Two years later he starred again, going 3-1-1, undefeated until the final singles match against Jim Furyk. But since then, he has failed to win more games than he has lost, playing in 49 of his 50 career starts. No golfer in the world has played (and continues to play) more on his side than Scott of the Internationals, but we're behind that driving range when it comes to one key truth of team sports: it doesn't matter how well you play as an individual unless the team wins. So Scott continues to stare into the mirror.

“I think we have a very good chance,” Scott continued. “I know we're not as—perhaps as—put together as a European team, but the American team took a few licks there in Rome. It will be interesting to see their evolution. They usually come to the Presidents Cups with a lot of confidence because they won them all. But we have a chance if we can put it together. For me, I need to win. I need the President's Cup where I win every game.”

By that he means he played like Jon Rahm or Rory McIlroy played in recent Ryder Cups, a vision he got up close in 2023 when he attended the event for the first time in Rome. Lead by experience, lead by example and lead by winning games. That's a lot to ask of a golfer in his 25th year as a professional. But he is the one who comes.

What's most interesting about those statements from eight months ago is that Scott was strangely confident. He was 43 years old and feeling refreshed. Not as usual for every pro golfer when the calendars turn to January. But in I have many first days of school left kind of way. He had just enjoyed a good holiday break and was renewed in 2024. He was 37 in the world, and according to DataGolf he was 47. Covid has had a huge impact on his game – he won one of the last Tour events before the closure of the pandemic – more than anyone else. But something clicked with his mechanics and pace in 2023 and surely, 2024 would bring something fruitful. I asked him, if 2024 is finally considered a success in Adam Scott's golf career, what does it look like?

“I would really like to win a few championships,” he said that day. For someone who hadn't won in four years, that sounded like a lot.

“It's the only thing I want to do,” he continued, admitting that it's annoying that his kids are old enough to ask why dad is so good but doesn't carry the trophy anymore.

What followed that approval was as close as you can get to fulfillment without checking those boxes. Scott was the most humble leader in the clubhouse at the Scottish Open in July, but was singled out by Bob MacIntyre's eagle-par-birdie heroics, accompanied by the crowd singing the Scottish national anthem. A month later he was tied for the lead on the back nine at the BMW Championship, losing by one to Keegan Bradley.

Two different flips of two different coins and Scott could carry multiple tournaments. Instead, he will have no choice but to try to wrap up more Presidents Cup games. Maybe the whole game. Whether we follow the trail or not doesn't matter. We know he will be following up, because 2-2 is not over yet.