Chasing his eighth top-10 of the year, Scott began making up the ground he lost with a third round 75 with two early birdies at Sheshan International Golf Club and then went on a back-nine tear to climb into a tie for 11th.

PGA TOUR Player of the Year Rory McIlroy added to his impressive 2019 season with a playoff win over defending champion Xander Schauffele to claim the $US1.745m winner’s cheque with Scott again leading the Aussies home.

The spearhead for Ernie Els’ International team for the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in December, Scott bogeyed the par-4 10th hole on Sunday before lighting up Sheshan International.

The 39-year-old made four consecutive birdies from the 11th hole and added a fifth at the par-4 16th, ultimately ending the week one shot outside the top 10.

As he did in an opening round of 6-under 66 that had Scott two shots off the lead, it was the Queenslander’s driving that set up his Sunday charge, hitting more than 70 per cent of fairways and averaging 338 yards off the tee, the best of the final round.

Scott’s command of his driver allowed him to hit 78 per cent of greens in the fourth round and with a sense of confidence ahead of three big weeks in Australia.

“It all looks really good but I just haven’t had any good feelings of where the golf club is in the downswing, and that’s never I nice thing,” Scott conceded.

“I’ve been trying to trust it the best I can but kind of really found it last week (at ZOZO Championship) – although my scoring didn’t really indicate it.

“It’s just starting to feel where that clubhead is a little more in the downswing.

“I worked a little bit on my setup and it’s hard to take straight away into a tournament situation. The rounds last week help get me prepared for this week.

“I’ll just be playing the Australian Open the week before the Presidents Cup so I’ll have a nice little break coming up where I can get ready for three big weeks in Australia at the end of the year.”

A final round of 3-under 69 helped Scott’s fellow Queenslander Scott Hend record his best finish at Sheshan International since 2015 with a tie for 28th while 2018 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit top two Jake McLeod and Matthew Millar were tied for 57th and tied for 67th respectively.

With his four captain’s picks to be announced later this week it was an encouraging performance from Els’ Presidents Cup International contingent with Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Abraham Ancer and Hideki Matsuyama all finishing within the top 11 and hopefuls Sungjae Im, Byeong Hun An, Jazz Janewattananond and Canadian Corey Conners all inside the top 20.

WGC-HSBC CHAMPIONS
Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China

T11         Adam Scott         66-69-75-67—277             $US155,000
T28         Scott Hend          75-69-70-69—283             $76,667
T57         Jake McLeod      70-73-79-69—291             $51,000
T60         Cameron Smith 70-72-74-76—292             $49,150