ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – For a player who has come so close before at the Open Championship, the events bordered on cruel and unusual.
Adam Scott, whose heartbreak at the 2012 Open is the kind of thing sport psychologys majors write thesis papers about, did what he needed to do on Monday on the Old Course’s outward loop, charging out in 31 and taking a share of the lead with a birdie at No. 7.
But as the contenders turned for home and began the trek into a wet, cold wind, he knew he needed to do even better if he were going to finally lift the claret jug.