Adam Scott might never want to play another Presidents Cup.
This week is the Australian’s eighth Presidents Cup and he’s about to lose his seventh with one tie thrown in there.
Personally, he’s 0-3 this week at Liberty National, where ironically he was the last player to win a PGA Tour event when he won the Barclays in 2013. He now owns the dubious distinction of having lost the most matches in the event’s history with a 13-20-5 career record.
Scott, who lost his foursomes match with Adam Hadwin, 3 and 2, to Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar on Saturday morning, sat out the afternoon four-ball session.
The 37-year-old Scott lost his Thursday foursome and Friday four-ball matches with Jhonny Vegas to Johnson and Brooks Koepka.
“Jhonny and I have played the No. 1 player in the world [Johnson] two days in a row,” Scott said. “There’s a reason he’s No. 1. He’s a bloody good player. We just weren’t quite good enough. We played solid, but against an amazing pair you have to make something happen, and we just didn’t do that.’’
Nor did they on Saturday, when the Americans won six of the first nine holes.
With the Sunday singles looming, Jordan Spieth has a score to settle — with himself.
“I’m 0-4,’’ Spieth said, referring to his Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup singles record.
“Really?’’ teammate Kevin Kisner asked.
“Terrible,’’ Daniel Berger said.
“You’re such a chop,’’ Kisner added.
“I get worn out,’’ Spieth said. “I get thrown into four matches in three days and I’ve got nothing left in the tank.’’
“You’re 24, bro, you can’t get worn out,’’ Berger responded.
“I’m probably going to lose [Sunday],’’ Spieth said.
“I think you should drink more the night before,’’ Kisner said.
“I would certainly like to get a win column in these singles matches,’’ Spieth said.
He’ll play Vegas in the ninth match Sunday.
Here’s a look at the rest of the Sunday singles matchups: Marc Leishman against Kevin Chappell, Jason Day against Charley Hoffman, Hideki Matsuyama against Justin Thomas, Si Woo Kim against Berger, Charl Schwartzel against Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen against Patrick Reed, Branden Grace against Johnson, Scott against Koepka, Vegas-Spieth, Anirban Lahiri against Kisner, Adam Hadwin against Phil Mickelson and Emiliano Grillo against Rickie Fowler.
Spieth was involved in a bizarre rules infraction Saturday afternoon when he influenced the movement of Oosthuizen’s second shot on the 12th hole.
Playing the 293-yard par-4 12th hole, Oosthuizen played his second shot from just off the green. He putted his ball onto the green and as it ran past the hole, Spieth stopped it with his putter, picked it up and threw it to Oosthuizen.
Oosthuizen’s partner, Day, was already in for birdie, so Spieth thought Oosthuizen’s birdie putt no longer mattered.
But, according to Rule 1-2 of the Rules of Golf, “a player must not (i) take an action with the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play or (ii) alter physical conditions with the intent of affecting the playing of a hole.”
The penalty for breaking the rule in match play is a loss of the hole.
So, even though Oosthuizen’s next putt wouldn’t have mattered, Spieth broke the rule since the ball hadn’t come to a stop. Rules official Andy McFee came onto the green to explain what had happened.
“I only stopped it because our fans were screaming at it, to like, keep going; just to shut everybody up,” Spieth said. “And it didn’t matter. It was already won.”
Spieth and Reed both had looks at birdie, but it didn’t matter. The Internationals were awarded the hole and took a 1-up lead in the match.
International captain Nick Price called it “a [bleep] rule.’’
“I had no idea that there was a rule like that,’’ Oosthuizen said. “Unfortunately there’s a rules breach, [but] we didn’t want to halve it. We wanted Jordan to putt and we offered the 13th hole to them, to walk to 14, and Jordan said, ‘No, that’s the rule, and that’s how it is and don’t worry about it.’ Silly rule.”
Jason Day’s Presidents Cup struggles continued on Saturday, when he and his partner for the first three sessions, Leishman, lost to Spieth and Reed in the foursomes, 4 and 3. Then, playing with Oosthuizen in the afternoon four-ball, he lost to Spieth and Reed again.
Day, who was 0-4-1 two years ago in South Korea and blamed himself for the International loss, is now 0-7-2 in his past eight Presidents Cup matches.
Including their afternoon four-ball win over Day and Oosthuizen, Spieth and Reed, meanwhile, are 8-1-3 playing together, including Ryder Cups. They won six holes to the Internationals’ winning two, and are 3-0-1 together this week.
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t have it [Saturday], more so myself,’’ Day said. “Leish played great.’’
Said Leishman: “They outplayed us, so credit to them.”