M and C.Those are two letters you could use to sum up Adam Scott's 2009 season. The player that people, at times, had called the next Tiger Woods missed 10 of 18 cuts this year (Tiger has only missed 15 cuts in his career), and has since ended his season by missing out on the top-100, which means he won't advance to this week's Deutsche Bank Championship, an event he won six years ago.
Scott's year has been far from expected. Last year, the 29-year-old Australian had a win on both the PGA and European Tours, making it 14 worldwide wins in his short career. He had the swing that made people, at moments, forget the beauty of Tiger's pass. He had the looks that made even the most Hollywood-minded females (hello Kate Hudson) interested in bogeys or birdies (well, maybe Burberry and biceps, but still) and he had the game that put him on a short list of players who would soon break though on the major championship scene.
Before 2009, Scott had missed just 14 cuts in his previous six seasons. He had accumulated six wins in that same stretch of time on the PGA Tour that included a gutsy win at the '04 Players Championship and a victory at the '06 Tour Championship.
So what went so bad this season? For one, Scott has battled a cyst in his right knee for years that he is getting surgery on next week. He claims it didn't bother his golf swing, but after Tiger's knee troubles, we can all see how important it is to keep those babies as healthy as possible.
It also can be attributed to the nasty sport he chose to play for a living. It seems like another lifetime, but 1998 was a similar year for Woods. Going through swing changes, Tiger notched only one win that season, his lowest total ever as a professional, but bounced back in '99 with eight victories including the PGA Championship. Scott, who still technically works with Butch Harmon even though the two have taken a break to let Adam figure it out on his own (mentally, I'm assuming, not swing-wise), can only hope this was just a glitch on the radar.
Two things can happen at this moment. Scott, who has all the talent in the world if he can just figure out how to hone it again, could take the road of '99 Tiger and bounce back with a fury. While he hasn't shown he can win in bulk, he does have the track record of consistency, claiming ten top-10s in his previous two seasons. If he takes the time off to figure out what was mentally keeping him from this, all should be fine for Scott.
The other way is that of David Duval. A top-player by anyones regards, Duval had some physical issues after winning the '01 British Open and has never been the same, sans a push for his second major win at this year's U.S. Open.
Golf is a wacky sport, allowing players to lose the slump battle quicker than anything else. Ian Baker-Finch won the '91 British Open only to retire from professional golf in '97 after basically losing the ability to play. Duval is the best modern case, ranked number-one in the world before failing to find his game again. Even John Daly can be seen as someone that once owned the game, only to have a hard time even completing a round this decade.
Scott has a few months to figure it out. This year at the Sony Open, Scott tied for second. Without a win this season, it appears that will be the same place we will see him again in 2010. Maybe this time, a top-10 finish will define his year, not be the one tournament that doesn't fit his resume.
