Adam Scott has called on Australia’s golfers to work harder amid their leanest season on the US PGA Tour in a decade.
“It’s getting harder and harder to compete and win on the PGA Tour,” said world No.5 Scott.
“We have a ton of talented guys but more so than ever talent doesn’t get the job done out here.
“Everyone out here is working extremely hard, everyone is very motivated, and I think it’s a wake-up call to all of our guys.
“I’m not having a go at anyone. We all just need to stand up and take note that we have to work harder and we have to be better.”
With only the four lesser “fall series” events remaining following last Sunday’s Tour Championship finale, the large Australian contingent have combined for just one victory in 2012 – Marc Leishman’s win at the Travelers Championship in June.
It looms as the first time Australia has had just one US tour win in a year since 2002. In the past 10 years, Australian golfers have won 33 events, an average of 3.3 a year.
The season began with such promise after a huge summer of Australian golf around the 2011 President’s Cup and the likes of Scott, Senden, Jason Day, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley and Greg Chalmers looking primed for big things.
But 28 Australians have played at least one event on the world’s biggest tour in 2012 for just the lone win and 10 top-five finishes.
In contrast, world No.1 Rory McIlroy had four wins and eight top-fives on his own.
“I’d agree it hasn’t been the best year for us as a group,” said Scott, who had five top 10s on the US tour from 16 starts.
“I pushed myself really hard and am giving myself an average mark this year.
“I didn’t execute the way I wanted to with everything and while there were lots of positives to take from it at the end of the day I didn’t get what I wanted.”
Scott had the best chance to turn a tough year into a good one when he led the British Open by four shots with four holes to play only to bogey in and lose to Ernie Els, extending Australia’s major championship drought beyond six years.
Scott and fellow Queenslander John Senden were Australia’s two most consistent performers, with Senden racking up five top 10s and 11 top 25s from 22 starts.
Perhaps fittingly, they were the only Australians to qualify for the Tour Championship, where they finished well off the pace.
Day, Ogilvy, Baddeley, Chalmers, Leishman, Robert Allenby, Scott and Senden have secured their tour cards for next year and will be joined by Scott Gardiner and Cameron Percy, who will qualify from the secondary webdotcom Tour.
Rod Pampling, Nick O’Hern, Stuart Appleby, Nathan Green, Matt Jones, Gavin Coles, Mathew Goggin and Steven Bowditch are among those hoping for big results in the fall to get inside the top 125 on the money list.
