Former Rebel shares lead, then falls apart in final round at British Open
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — For the third time in four years, Adam Scott shared the lead on the back nine of a British Open. But after Monday‘s final round at St. Andrews, the former Rebel has still yet to hoist the Claret Jug as tournament champion.
Scott shot a 1-under 71 on Monday, finishing tied for 10th place with a 10-under 278 score for the tournament, which began on Thursday. After six birdies on his first 10 holes, the 34-year-old former UNLV star stood at 15-under, tied for the lead with eventual champion Zach Johnson.
From there, it all went downhill for Scott.
After pars on the par-3 11th, par-4 12th and par-4 13th holes, Scott dropped a stroke on the par-5 14th, then three-putted the par-4 15th for bogey. After another bogey on the par-4 17th, an errant drive out-of-bounds on the par-4 18th cost the Australia native two strokes, leading to a double-bogey to finish 5-over on his last five holes.
"I needed a good back nine and I had a really poor back nine," Scott said after the round. "I felt like I wasn‘t even in it at the moment. It‘s indigestible right now."
Scott‘s freefall started with his second shot on the 14th, when a short iron from just over 150 yards sailed over the green and into a bunker.
"I just pulled it a little bit," he said. "Really that was my poorest shot I hit today and possibly of the Open, and it cost me a bogey."
On the 15th, after leaving a 40-foot birdie putt within two feet of the hole, Scott looked in position to make an easy par. But his next putt missed, too, leaving even Scott at a loss for words.
"Just went up to tap it in from a foot and it lipped out," he said. "It‘s one of those stupid things that happens."
Scott hit 12 of 16 fairways on Monday and 14 of 18 greens in regulation. Before scoring 5-over on the final five holes on Monday, Scott was a combined 1-under on the same holes through the first three rounds.
But as dramatically as the former Rebel‘s roller-coaster final round ended on Monday, it wasn‘t the first time Scott struggled to close out the final round at the year‘s third major championship.
Leading the 2012 British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Anne‘s by four strokes with four holes to play, the former Rebel bogeyed each of his last four holes to finish second behind Ernie Els, who birdied the 18th.
In 2013, after shooting 3-under through 11 holes in the final round, Scott also held a share of the British Open lead at Muirfield. He then bogeyed three straight holes, and eventually finished third.
The former Rebel said Monday’s finish was equally disappointing.
"I‘ll be disappointed the way I played the last five holes, for sure," he said. "I could have done a lot better than that. It‘s a shame not to get in there and finish with a share (of the lead)."
Las Vegas resident Kevin Na shot a 1-over 73 on Monday to finish 3-under 285, tied for 58th place.
Contact Chris Kudialis at ckudialis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Find him on Twitter: @kudialisrj
