Why Adam Scott had a complaint to make about the USGA back in 2017, ‘it doesn’t set a good example’

Add as preferred source on Google

Adam Scott has made 24 appearances at the US Open throughout his career, but he has had very limited success.

Scott has just three top-10 finishes to his name at the US Open, with three times as many missed cuts to his name.

Back in June of this year, Scott was actually in contention to win the US Open, before drifting away on the final day to finish in a tie for 12th.

The Australian’s game just hasn’t been that well-suited to the difficult golf courses which the USGA have set up.

His wayward driving and putting problems caused him big issues throughout the years in America’s national Open.

However, back in 2017, he shared a very strongly-worded criticism of the USGA, suggesting that their course setups had been unfair in recent years.

Adam Scott made a complaint about the USGA in 2017

Scott is not known as someone who is particularly vocal, but he had a big problem with the USGA eight years ago.

Ahead of the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills, Scott criticized the USGA for the way they had set up the courses for the Championship over the past two years.

Scott said: “If their major pinnacle event for them requires courses to be the way they are, it doesn’t set a good example for every other bit of golf that they try to promote. Maybe we should get the numbers out of our heads and try a new strategy.”

After the horrors of Chambers Bay in 2015 and the problems with Oakmont a year later, Scott warned the USGA that they were under pressure to get it right at Erin Hills.

“They’ve taken criticism for the last two years, I’m sure they’re not liking it,” Scott continued. “They’re going to have to try to run a really good event. The ball is in their court; they control it all. Hopefully they get it right this time, just from a playability standpoint. Let’s just have something that’s a challenge and interesting, not just playing brutal.”

He then accused the USGA of ‘dropping the ball’ when it comes to the way they were running things at the time.

“I think they’ve really dropped the ball with where the game is at, over the last 20 years especially,” Scott said. “I know their intent is not to do that. I don’t question their intent at all. I guess their primary role of administering and looking after the game, they’ve kind of dropped the ball in that sense and gotten worried about other things.”

The ironic thing is that after the tournament at Erin Hills finished, the course was actually criticized for being too easy for a US Open.

Brooks Koepka won with a score of 16-under par and tied the record for the most strokes under par in the history of the US Open, after Rory McIlroy won in 2011 at Congressional with a score of 16-under.

Winning US Open scores 2012-2016 vs 2017-2021

There has definitely been a big change in the setup of US Open venues since Scott spoke out against the USGA eight years ago.

Here is a comparison of the winning scores over the five-year periods both before and after Scott made his comments:

The average winning score from the five years before Scott’s comments was -3.2, while it improved beyond all recognition to -8 after the Australian spoke out.

It’s also worth noting that Martin Kaymer won by eight strokes in 2014, so Pinehurst was clearly playing incredibly difficult. It was just that the German enjoyed a generational week in North Carolina.

It seems like the USGA listened to Scott’s comments in 2017.