46-year-old Adam Scott has seen it all on the PGA Tour.
He made his debut on the tour in the height of Tiger Woods’ prime, and has been one of the best players on the planet for the next 23 years.
Scott has won 13 times on the tour since then, risen to world number one, and survived all the changes professional golf has gone through over the last two decades. And knowing Scott, he’ll probably be around when the tour’s schedule completely changes in 2028.
The Australian is playing in his 14th Tour Championship this week at East Lake, and there he said that the biggest change he’s seen on the PGA Tour during his career was actually ushered in by Jordan Spieth’s arrival.
Adam Scott says the biggest change he’s seen on the PGA Tour started with Jordan Spieth
After his opening round of the Tour Championship, where Scott shot an opening round of 66, he was asked if he thinks it’s harder to play on the PGA Tour now than it was when he first joined.
Scott responded, saying that since Spieth’s debut, young players arrive on the PGA Tour far more prepared than they used to.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t think it was harder. I watch so many of the players on Tour, and the standard is so deep. There are so many players with the potential to win any week.
“The learning curve is a lot quicker. I think they learn in college now. I think I came out, I didn’t know a lot. I didn’t learn a lot in college, in the classroom or on the golf course.
“Then there was like this apprenticeship, you served as a Tour pro, and it was at least five years before you really knew how to play. You’ve just seen over the last 10 to 15 years, from Jordan Spieth onwards, guys coming out of college so prepared.
“I’d say it’s much harder, and I probably took for granted those years where I was kind of cruising through out here. I feel like the moment I relax, I just plummet down rankings and leaderboards and everything. There’s no letting up out here.”
He continued, “I think that No. 1 standard has improved since then. I think the standard is always improving at every level.
“I think managing all the different disciplines you have to, physically and mentally, as a professional golfer and managing a life and balancing your priorities and keeping everything at peace is a lot more demanding and takes a lot more energy from me these days to do that, because the standard is higher.
“Even the standard I play at is I think I’m a better golfer. What I’m trying to say is, putting it all together every week, that seems to be the biggest challenge for me. I work on my long game and I hit it great, but my short game suffers a bit.
“Finding the time to always keep bringing everything up to that top level is my biggest challenge.”
If the tour really is much harder, then you wouldn’t know it from Scott’s play, because even at the age of 46 he’s still in the top 30 players on the PGA Tour and competing at the Tour Championship.
If players like him and Justin Rose are able to compete into their mid 40s, then the PGA Tour is only going to get more difficult for players trying to break through.
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