Five weeks after World No. 1 Dustin Johnson said he won’t play in the Summer Olympics, Adam Scott has done likewise.
In a Golf Channel report, Scott’s agent confirmed the news.
“With the world being the way it is, Adam is gone 4-5 weeks at a time this year during his playing blocks,” Johan Elliot said in a statement to GolfChannel.com. “With three young children at home, this time in the schedule will be devoted to family. It is pretty much the only time up until October when he has a chance to see them for a stretch of time and not only a few days/a week.”
Scott also skipped the 2016 Games. The men’s competition at Kasumigaseki Country Club near Tokyo is July 29-Aug. 1 and falls two weeks after the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s and a week before the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.
In January, when Scott was asked at the Sentry Tournament of Champions if he would consider playing, he seemed to be leaving the door open.
“I would consider it. It’s still not my priority for the year, that’s for sure,” he said. “But I wouldn’t rule it out because you can never really say never, but it will certainly be something I’ll look at. Who knows where we are in the summertime.”
Well, where he’s at now is to not aim to be one of the two Australians heading to Tokyo.
The Summer Games were pushed back a year because of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Games are less than 100 days away but organizers still haven’t ruled out the possibility of cancelling them altogether, should health concerns become a major factor once again.
Scott tied for 10th at the Farmers Insurance Open, his lone top-10 in 11 starts on Tour this season.
The latest Olympic Golf Ranking has Cameron Smith (12) and Marc Leishman (17) as the highest ranked Australians. Smith and Leishman are teammates at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.