Adam Scott relives painful loss against Xander Schauffele at 2019 Presidents Cup- "I let the side down"

The 2024 Presidents Cup is all set to be held from September 24 to 29 in Montreal, and Adam Scott is the most experienced member of the International team. The Presidents Cup has been won only once by the International team, all the way back in 1998.

Scott's history with the Presidents Cup is a long and old one, with the 2024 edition marking his 10th appearance. He has a record of 18-25-6, and came agonisingly close to winning in 2019. Reflecting on his memories from the 2019 International team's defeat (14-16) in Australia, the 44-year-old shared his thoughts with Golf Week:

"That was a harsh one. The momentum was on our side all week, and really flipped upside down on Sunday. But personally, I didn’t play great against Xander (Schauffele). He got up on me early (in singles) and I started feeling the pressure a little bit, and he never let up. I got so far down that I couldn’t come back."

With the International team falling short by just two points, Scott expressed a sense of responsibility for the loss.

"I knew every match was getting important as I played throughout the round, and I felt like I’d let the side down. That one slipped through our fingers. It was months and months and months of trying to figure out how it slipped away because it felt like that was going to be our time."

This year, Scott is on the lookout to finally win one more edition of the Presidents Cup, with a strong team led by Mike Weir.

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Adam Scott opens up about discrepancy between the Presidents Cup format and Ryder Cup format

Talking more about the Presidents Cup itself, Adam Scott pointed out the difference between the formats for the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. The latter is spread out over four days, and teams can get a maximum of 30 points. The Ryder Cup, on the other hand, is held over a span of three days with a maximum of 28 points up for grabs.

This change in format was brought about in 2015, something which is beyond Scott's understanding. Speaking in the aforementioned interview, he said:

"I’m not going to complain about the current format because I’m on the losing side all the time. It would look like we’re sore losers. We’ve had these discussions, not you and me, but like amongst players and the PGA Tour of changing the format. And we did change it in 2015."

Despite discussions with members of the PGA Tour and players from both teams, the format change for the Presidents Cup has not introduced a substantial new element to the tournament. There is only a difference of two points between the Ryder Cup and the PGA Tour.

"This was the format that we settled on. Part of me feels like I don’t know why it’s not the same as the Ryder Cup when that’s seemingly so successful. But you know they wanted a point of difference, and they’ve got two points of difference, actually."

This year, the Presidents Cup is being held at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, Canada.