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The oldest man in the field and one of the few to have teed it up at Castle Pines before this week leads halfway through the 2024 BMW Championship. Amid a testy day in Colorado, Adam Scott surged up the leaderboard thanks to a bogey-free 9-under 63 to reach 13 under for the tournament.
Scott's 63 was good for a course record at Castle Pines — which Ludvig Åberg matched it in the afternoon — and represents the 44-year-old's lowest round on the PGA Tour since the final round of the 2023 Wyndham Championship. Most importantly, it puts him three clear of his nearest competitor, first-round leader Keegan Bradley, at 10 under.
"I think it's hard to get a lot better in your 40s, and there are a lot of 20-year-olds getting better. I just think there are probably a lot of 40 plus guys dropping off the Tour," Scott said. "There are a lot of mid 20s coming on the Tour taking their place. Whether it's just life or whether it's physical at this age or mental, it's hard to keep pace with what the younger guys are doing, from hitting the ball at a speed that's competitive to practicing enough to having the motivation and the drive to do it. I think it's harder for the older guys."
In a field that features Akshay Bhatia and Nick Dunlap who were not even born when Scott made his professional debut, the veteran is showing the kids how it is done. Wielding the broomstick effectively on Friday, Scott searches for his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational and a potential path not only to the FedEx Cup final but to his first FedEx Cup crown.
Should the Australian convert his 36-hole lead into his 15th PGA Tour victory, Scott would enter the Tour Championship ranked fourth in the FedEx Cup and start at 6 under just four off the pace of the leader. Freed up after securing his place inside the top 50 and in the signature events for 2025, the former world No. 1 is playing like it.
"It's a big deal for anybody to make it through to the top 50 on Tour, and I think that was a relief last week," Scott said. "I have to say playing the last -- the back nine last week was quite stressful. I knew I was a shot here or there from being in or out, and getting through that was good. I felt like I've been kind of a bubble boy all year for things, and now it doesn't really matter. It's more about getting out there and playing. My game is in a good place, and that freedom is helpful."
Scott will need to continue to play with that sense of abandonment over the weekend with Bradley and a youngster like Åberg breathing down his neck from four adrift. World No. 1 and FedEx Cup No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled for the second straight day while Xander Schauffele shriveled on the back nine and may have kissed his tournament chances goodbye.
The leader
1. Adam Scott (-13)
Scott hit 11 fairways and 15 greens, but it was the broomstick which brushed him past the rest Friday. Converting six birdie attempts from outside 10 feet including makes from 15 feet, 17 feet and 28 feet, the Australian could do no wrong with his putter in hand. Despite a big dip on the greens in the middle of his career, that has become the norm for Scott while the struggles appear mainly on approach. That is the area of his game to keep an eye on over the weekend.
"I putt well all the time. I don't ever putt bad, actually," Scott said. "It's really my iron play has been atrocious for two years, and that's why I've been moving stuff around, because I figured if I leave it the same, I'll keep getting atrocious. But before the Scottish, we managed to really, like, sort my irons out, in what I'm using to shaft to grip to lofts to lie angles and club, the whole thing, complete working over, and as soon as we did that, it started feeling better."
Other contenders
2. Keegan Bradley (-10)
3. Ludvig Åberg (-9)
4. Alex Noren (-8)
5. Taylor Pendrith (-7)
T6. Sungjae Im, Corey Conners (-6)
T8. Patrick Cantlay, Si Woo Kim (-5)
T10. Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Akshay Bhatia, Will Zalatoris, Tom Hoge (-4)
The leaderboard is spread thin as those in a share of ninth place are currently nine off the pace. Of those closer to Scott, Åberg is the one which drives the most conversation. The young Swede hasn't looked the same since blowing the 54-hole lead at the Scottish Open — which coincidentally Scott nearly won — but got back on the right track today thanks to some sensational approach play and cleaning up of the mistakes. Åberg's opening 72 featured seven birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys. His second-round 64 consisted of eight birdies, an eagle and a bogey. More of that over the weekend, and he'll give Scott everything he can handle.
Implications of Hideki Matsuyama's withdrawal
After opening with a 5-under 67, Matsuyama withdrew from the tournament due to a lower back injury. Entering the week third in the FedEx Cup, Matsuyama had a chance to climb into the second spot and inch even closer to the 10-under starting point at the Tour Championship. While the bad news is that he will receive zero FedEx Cup points, the good news is it doesn't look like he'll lose any ground as those closest behind him are well off the pace of Scott.
Projected FedEx Cup bubble
| Position | Name | Official | Projected |
|---|---|---|---|
T37 | Matthieu Pavon | 20 | 26 |
T6 | Corey Conners | 33 | 27 |
T24 | Sepp Straka | 24 | 28 |
T15 | Brian Harman | 29 | 29 |
T42 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | 23 | 30 |
46 | Justin Thomas | 22 | 31 |
T15 | Tommy Fleetwood | 31 | 32 |
T8 | Si Woo Kim | 44 | 33 |
T15 | Chris Kirk | 32 | 34 |
45 | Jason Day | 25 | 35 |
| T10 | Will Zalatoris | 37 | 36 |
2024 BMW Championship updated odds and picks
- Adam Scott: 8/5
- Ludvig Åberg: 3-1
- Keegan Bradley: 11/2
- Alex Noren: 16-1
- Taylor Pendrith: 22-1
- Patrick Cantlay: 22-1
- Corey Conners: 25-1
- Sungjae Im: 25-1
There's one man on this list who has won on the PGA Tour this season and that is Pendrith. The long-hitting Canadian was stellar on Friday with a 7-under 65 and ranks inside the top 10 in this field in terms of approach play and putting which should allow him to make up a five-stroke deficit over the next 36 holes. He'll need to find more fairways, but at 22-1 that's a risk I am willing to take.
Rick Gehman and Patrick McDonald recap Adam Scott's low Friday round and the second round of the 2024 BMW Championship. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
