A Different Road for Adam Scott

Adam Scott, who once was the next big thing on the PGA Tour, is playing in the Turning Stone Resort Championship that tees off Thursday in Vernon, N.Y.

For everybody who thought last week's Tour Championship and FedEx Cup was the grand finale of the PGA Tour season, it was, only it wasn't. The Turning Point Resort Championship is the first of the PGA Tour's five-event Fall Finish that prolongs the season for those players who really need it.

Adam Scott really, really needs it.

The 29-year-old Aussie is trying to save a season -- maybe his career -- and he can't help but feel the pressure.

After six wins, including the 2004 Players Championship and the 2006 Tour Championship, Scott seemed to be on the fast track to stardom. His swing looked just like Tigers'. His popularity was soaring, too.

Scott climbed to No. 3 the World Golf Rankings in early 2008. He won last season for the fourth consecutive year. One of golf's official "young guns," a major championship was predicted as the next big step.

Instead, this year has been more break down than break through.

He finished second in January in the tour's first full field event of the season, and hasn't had a top 10 since. In 18 tournament appearances he has missed 10 cuts.

In 2006 he finished third on the PGA Tour in scoring average. In 2007 and 2008 he was among the top 20. This year he ranks 169th.

Where, oh, where did his game go?
"You know, obviously I've thought about it a lot this year, and I mean I can give you a long, drawn-out answer, but you know, the simple answer is just some habits of mine got out of hand, and it was hard to fix them while still trying to play," Scott said Wednesday. "I just didn't manage it well enough, I think.

"You've gotta go back to basics, and you know, for me that's fairly easy. I have a fairly straightforward golf swing when I swing the club well. I've just gotta get myself in position to do that, and that's basically what I said, my posture was not allowing me to swing it how I should."

A lot of players go through ups and downs. Many of them work their way back. And maybe Scott will do the same.

But there's an extreme variable in Scott's equation.

Next week he will play in the Presidents Cup at Harding Park in San Francisco, chosen by International team captain and countryman Greg Norman as an at-large selection.

"There's more than one thing to look at when selecting a player and obviously a lot of it has got to do with past experiences," Norman said. "When you look back, Adam was the No. 3 player in the world. So everybody goes through a slump.

"Everybody goes through slumps for different reasons. Maybe it's not your game, but maybe something else is just a little bit out of sync in his life to put him in that situation."

Well, that settles it. Where better to work out all things that ail you than a team match-play competition where even the sharpest of players concede the pressure makes for strange results?

Maybe Scott suddenly finds the answer and will one day look back on the Presidents Cup as the rebirth of his career. Or, maybe, a golfer playing horribly all season finds himself in an impossible team situation and suffers scars that never go away.

"You know, just being picked on the team was good for my confidence," Scott maintained. "You know, the way I practiced the last few weeks, you know, I felt much more confident out on the golf course. And you know, I'm confident I'm going to play well here, and I'm confident I'm going to play well in San Francisco as well."

All he has to do is prove it.

Or deal with the consequences.