Whatever chance you thought you had going in instantly evaporates.

At the turn of the century, Tiger Woods’ mere presence at a golf tournament made other players reevaluate their chances of winning, including our very own Adam Scott.

It’s been almost 17 years since Scott turned potential into a maiden PGA TOUR title at the 2003 Deutsche Bank Championship and he returns to TPC Boston this week – along with five fellow Aussies – for the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Northern Trust.

As is his custom at the business end of the season – even a truncated one such as this – Woods is in attendance, courtesy in large part due to his victory at the ZOZO Championship in Japan late last year.

When Scott was establishing himself as one of the elite young players in the game Woods had won seven of the past 16 major championships and the ‘Tiger-effect’ was at full force.

“Looking back on it now, it’s hard to remember exactly the influence, attention and intimidation that Tiger drew to golf tournaments but it was significant to every player that was out here,” concedes Scott, the 2013 champion in this event at Liberty National.

“If anyone was playing at that time and they were being honest there’s no doubt he made a big difference.

“I think I would have told myself to come up with a strategy to block out exactly what Tiger was doing and making us all kind of feel slightly inferior to him.”

Scott enters the FedEx Cup playoffs in 36th position courtesy of his victory at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, third of the Aussies behind Marc Leishman (14th) and Cameron Smith (30th) with Jason Day (45th), Matt Jones (86th) and Cameron Davis (91st) chasing a share of the FedEx Cup bounty along with Kiwi Danny Lee.

Tied for 22nd in his tournament return at the US PGA Championship a fortnight ago, the 40-year-old Queenslander has the same career goals that he had at 23 and despite the years quickly passing by still believes they are achievable.

“I never really had Jack Nicklaus’s major record pinned up on my boardroom wall or anything but I always felt like a real legend of the game was a five-time Major Champion and I still feel that’s relevant,” said Scott.

“That’s not to take anything away from players who have won multiple majors and had incredible careers, but you know, there can only be so many legends of the game. You have to draw the line somewhere and that’s what I think about in my head and my goals, and I feel like I want to win multiple majors.

“Five still seems pretty clear to me. That’s a pretty tough goal. I only have a few years to do it but I still think something like that would be fantastic.”

As for the player other players fear today, Scott said no one can compare to Tiger Woods but there is one in particular who makes his presence known on the leaderboard.

“It’s very, very hard to compare anyone to Tiger. There are a lot of incredible players today but only one comes along every once in a while with an influence like Tiger Woods.

“In fairness, Justin Thomas, when his name is on the leaderboard, he seems like a very good closer. I know he’s had a couple close calls, but that’s what happens when you’re up there all the time, you lose a couple. But he’s winning a lot.

“Justin Thomas to me seems like a guy who really has it dialed and is a threat. He can sneak his way up when hasn’t had a great week, or he can dominate a tournament from the get-go, so he’s certainly putting it all together.”

Round 1 tee times (AEST)

PGA TOUR
The Northern Trust
TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts
9.53pm Jason Day, Brendan Steele, Adam Hadwin
10.04pm*            Marc Leishman, Abraham Ancer, Dustin Johnson
10.37pm              Matt Jones, Cameron Tringale, Rickie Fowler
2.22am Danny Lee, Mackenzie Hughes, Jim Herman
2.44am*              Adam Scott, Matthew Wolff, Tyler Duncan
2.55am*              Cameron Smith, Viktor Hovland, Ryan Palmer
3.17am*              Cameron Davis, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Kokrak

Defending champion: Patrick Reed
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1970), David Graham (1976), Wayne Grady (1989), Adam Scott (2013), Jason Day (2015)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Day
TV schedule: Live 5am-9am Friday, Saturday; Live 4am-8am Sunday; Live 2.30am-8.30am Monday on Fox Sports 503.

European Tour
ISPS HANDA Wales Open
The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales
6.28pm Michael Campbell, Aaron Rai, John Catlin
7.01pm Ryan Fox, Brandon Stone, Wilco Nienaber
8.23pm Jake McLeod, Ugo Coussaud, Ewen Ferguson
11.02pm              Min Woo Lee, Lucas Bjerregaard, Adri Arnaus
11.46pm              Jason Scrivener, Guido Migliozzi, Marcus Kinhult
12.08am              Zach Murray, Ben Evans, Philip Eriksson

Defending champion: Joost Luiten (2014)
Past Aussie winners: Scott Strange (2008)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener
TV schedule: Live 10.30pm-12.30am Thursday, 1.30am-4.30am Friday; Live 10.30pm-12.30am Friday, 1.30am-4.30am Saturday; 12pm-2pm Sunday; Live 8.30pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.

Korn Ferry Tour
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship
OSU Golf Club (Scarlet Cse), Columbus, Ohio
10.14pm              Curtis Luck, Joshua Creel, Patrick Fishburn
10.25pm*            Brett Coletta, Mito Pereira, Nicholas Thompson
11.20pm              Harrison Endycott, JT Griffin, Kevin Roy
11.31pm              Nick Voke, Stephen Franken, KK Limbhasut
3.30am Jamie Arnold, Kyle Jones, John Chin
3.52am*              Ryan Ruffels, Zach Wright, Bobby Bai
4.14am Brett Drewitt, Matt Atkins, Robby Ormand

Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Jamie Arnold
TV schedule: Live 3am-5am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 505; 2pm-3.30pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 4.30am-7am Monday on Fox Sports 505.

Champions Tour
Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Big Cedar Lodge
Buffalo Ridge, Ridgedale, Missouri
1.25am*              Rod Pampling, Kent Jones, Ken Duke                      
1.30am David McKenzie, Bob Estes, Brad Bryant
3.31am*              Stephen Leaney, Robin Byrd, Shane Bertsch

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Top Aussie prediction: Stephen Leaney
TV schedule: Live 6am-8am Thursday on Fox Sports 503; 9am-11am Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports 507.

* Starting from 10th tee

Moriwaka, one of the bright young stars of American golf and already ranked No. 12 in the world prior to his win, closed with a sensational 64 to blow everyone away on the final day at TPC Harding Park.

His chip-in for birdie at the 14th set it all up, but it was his tee shot at the 270-metre par-four 16th hole that will live in the memory, one of the best shots in major championship history.

Already leading by a shot but refusing to consider caution, he blasted it on to the front of the green and up to two metres from the flag, rolled in his left-to-right sliding putt for eagle, and put up the parachute for the final two holes to win by two shots at 13-under par.

It marks the arrival of a new superstar of the game.

Morikawa, a native Californian who has Japanese and Chinese heritage, joins Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as players who won the PGA Championship at his age. Playing in the second-last group and starting two shots back from Dustin Johnson, he jumped out of a pack that at one point included six joint leaders and another cluster just a shot back.

As for Day, he could not have done much more in finishing tied-fourth. He shot 66, four-under par, without a single bogey. In truth, he hardly made a mistake, from the time he rolled in his birdie putt on the first, to the long bomb for birdie at the par-three 11th that pitched him into a share of the lead at 10-under par, to the closing stretch.

All week, he looked to be back to the type of form that saw him reach No. 1 in the world late in 2015.

Day’s momentum was strong on the back nine but it was at the short, par-four 16th that he gave ground … with a par. Taking three wood off the tee and trying to slide it on to the front of the green, his ball went straight and into a fairway trap, meaning that he would only make par.

At the par-three 17th he gave himself a chance of birdie but by then, Morikawa had the lead outright, and Day’s putt missed. Knowing he would need birdie at the par-four 18th, Day drove into a fairway trap and then his second shot flew into a greenside bunker, meaning he had to scramble his par.

It was Day’s highest finish in a major championship since the 2016 PGA, when he was runner-up to Jimmy Walker.

Adam Scott also had a good week, especially considering it was his return to tournament golf after five months. Scott carded a two-under par 68 to finish tied-22nd, while fellow-Queenslander Cameron Smith (70 today) finished tied-43rd.

A bunch of players had a hand on the Wanamaker Trophy today, headed by Englishman Paul Casey, one of the best players not to have won a major. Casey (68 today) finished tied second at 11-under par with overnight leader Dustin Johnson, whose long birdie putt at the 72nd hole for a 68 gave him yet another runner-up finish in a major.

The bunch of five tied-fourth included Day, Tony Finau (66 today), Bryson DeChambeau (66) and Matthew Wolff (65) and Scottie Scheffler (68). One other player – Cameron Champ – also touched 10-under to share the lead at one stage.

All of them had their chances but the winner was unequivocal.

Morikawa has won three times on the main tour having turned professional only last year. “It’s amazing. It’s been since I was a little kid, watching everyone growing up, watching these professionals, wanting to do it,” he said.

He is quite some talent.

PGA results

Day shot an even-par 70 that owed as much to his resilience to his skill, with two birdies and two bogeys, having started out two shots from the lead.

By the time he scrapped out a closing par from the fairway trap at the par-four 18th, he was at six-under par, three shots behind American Dustin Johnson, whose 65 left him at nine-under par and leading.

Johnson, whose round remarkably included a double bogey at the ninth, was runner-up to Brooks Koepka in this tournament last year and if anyone deserved a PGA title, it is him, after he lost this championship in 2010 for grounding his club in a bunker at Whistling Straits when virtually no one even knew that he was playing from a hazard.

The chasing pack behind Johnson is headed by Korn Ferry Tour graduate Scottie Scheffler and long bomber Cameron Champ at eight-under, while the looming Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Paul Casey are at seven-under.
But Day is not out of it yet.

The Australian hit a pure wedge at the first hole today from just 90 metres and in close, made the birdie and looked like he might make a charge.

By the time overnight leader Haotong Li of China bogeyed the fifth in the group behind him, Day had a share of the lead at seven-under par.

But just as he scaled the top of the leaderboard, Day had his own issues. At the sixth, he hit a wild drive and dropped a shot, and at the ninth he gave back a shot from just in front of the green.

He did not make another birdie until the par-three 16th when he knocked in a long putt, and he missed a great birdie opportunity at the 17th.

Yet he managed to cobble his pars in between the birdies, and he would not go away.

“Major championship weekends you don’t have to do too much to move up the leaderboard, but you can do a lot to move away from the lead by forcing things too much,” he said.

“Hopefully that’s my poor round for the week, and I can move on.”

Li opened the door for the rest of the field with his three-over par 73 today.

The Chinese player, who represented the International team at the Presidents Cup, had the outright lead through 12 holes but at the 13th, pulled his tee shot into Cypress trees and could not find the ball, making double bogey.

He conceded four shots to par in four holes and ended up tied-13th. That was the kind of day it was.

Koepka made three consecutive bogeys from the 13th to the 15th, then hit it tight at the 18th to make a great, fighting birdie and keep his hopes of winning the event for the third straight day alive.

Even his great friend Johnson, who played superbly, had a calamity from the greenside bunker at the par-four ninth and gave back two shots.
Back in the field the other Australians, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, have treaded water. Scott is tied-30th through three rounds after an even par round today, and Smith is tied-43rd, also shooting 70 today.

As for Day, the 2015 PGA champion, he said he was “really positive” about what’s to come.

“I feel like it’s right there,’’ he said. “If it clicks, I think I can shoot a low one, and if I can do that tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be walking out of here with the Wanamaker (Trophy).”

Day said he would keep an eye on the leaderboard tomorrow, but not watch too closely.

“I’m really going to focus on each and every shot. If I can walk off at the end of the day knowing I gave it everything, I’ll be happy. Hopefully it’s enough to win.’’

Under normal circumstances, ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Rules Official Graeme Scott would likely be on the ground at TPC Harding Park officiating his fourth PGA Championship. Today, watching from his home in Australia, Scott explains the circumstances around the ruling.

Playing in the afternoon field of the US PGA Championship alongside Aussie Adam Scott, Bryson DeChambeau benefitted greatly from a Model Local Rule used on all Professional Tours after the shaft of the uniquely configured driver snapped as he bent down to pick up his tee on the 7^th tee.

Although Rule 4.1b(3) prohibits a player from replacing a damaged club during a round (unless the player did not cause the damage), Model Local Rule G-9, which was introduced after the 2019 code came into force,  allows a club that has been damaged during the round other than by abuse to be replaced.

Given that DeChambeau did nothing out of the ordinary when the shaft snapped he was able to have a replacement shaft brought out to him by a Rules Official from the PGA of America.

DeChambeau’s powerful and unusual swing and set up means that his shaft selection and 5° driver face are integral to his action.

His team happened to have a replacement shaft in the boot of their car and so, under Interpretation 4.1b(4)/1, the Rules Official was able to head to the car park and retrieve the shaft on DeChambeau’s behalf.

It certainly helped that the 8^th hole is a par 3, providing sufficient time for the shaft to be delivered and replaced without unduly delaying play.

The benefits of this were clear when DeChambeau went on to birdie holes 9 and 10, thanks to a couple of boomers off the tee, averaging 19yds longer than his previous drives.