When Rory McIlroy tees off at Royal Melbourne on Thursday, he will receive a far warmer reception than he did at Royal Sydney in 2013.
Twelve years ago, the Northern Irishman played party pooper to the Masters champion’s much-anticipated Australian Open homecoming in one of the best golfing duels on Australian soil in recent memory.
Not only was Adam Scott the first Australian to play their national open as a green jacket winner, but he was also chasing an incredible triple crown.
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Scott, who triumphed at Augusta National earlier that year, made sure his year-end trip home was a true victory lap by winning the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast and the claiming a second successive gold jacket at the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne the following week.
Anticipation was building heading to Sydney that Scott could become just the second ever golfer to claim the Australian triple crown after Robert Allenby in 2005.
McIlroy arrived down under with other ideas, however, and it still stings Scott twelve years later.
“You think of tournaments that slipped through the fingers,” he told foxsports.com.au at Royal Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open.
“I feel lucky. I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but then occasionally I’m reminded of several that slipped through the fingers and that’s one of them.
“It just happened out of nowhere. I felt like I had it.”
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Rory McIlroy winner congratulates runner up Adam Scott at the 2013 Emirates Australian Open Golf Championship at Royal Sydney Golf Course. pic. Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia
Having won the PGA Championship, the European Tour Championship and two PGA Tour titles in the year prior, McIlroy was having a concerningly down year in 2013.
He touched down in Sydney winless for the year but buoyed by returning to a country that played a key role in his formative years in the game.
McIlroy had played the Australian Open twice before as a teenager – at Moonah Links in 2005 and at Royal Sydney in 2006 – with his first appearance coming after winning a seven-way playoff for the fourth alternate spot as a 16-year-old.
After playing with relative anonymity in his first ventures in Australia, the crowds were coming to watch not only their Masters hero in Scott, but the new global superstar who began the year as the world No.1.
It was a heavyweight showdown befitting of Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, and it delivered for Australian golf fans.
Scott and McIlroy played their way into the final group on Sunday, so that the two big names of the field could properly duke it out.
The Australian began the day with a four-shot buffer and had broken the course record with a dazzling 62 in the opening round.
The stars were aligning once again for a fairytale finish for what had been one of the most remarkable years in Australian golf history.
The only problem was that McIlroy did not read the script.
McIlroy kisses the Stonehaven Cup.Source: AAP
Then, already a two-time major champion, McIlroy wasted little time in wiping away Scott’s advantage – they were level after eight holes with the Northern Irishman’s eagle at the seventh flipping the momentum his way.
That made it a ten-hole match play contest between two of the world’s best at the time – Scott was world No.2 and McIlroy No.6 – and there was no shortage of drama.
Scott birdied the ninth to reach the turn with a one-shot lead.
Both had a good chance at eagle at the 13th, but Scott’s putt shaved the edge of the hole – it would become a theme in the closing stages.
He three-putted from the front of the green at the 16th after McIlroy opened the door for Scott to extend his lead by dumping his approach shot into a bunker.
At the penultimate hole, Scott struck a tee shot but his birdie putt at the par 3 lipped out, while his rival drained a crucial 10-foot par putt to ensure the Australian’s lead remained at only a shot.
Heartbreak then struck Scott at the last.
His approach into the 18th green bounced hard, past the flag and off the back of the green, down a steep slope.
“Leaving that 18th tee, I felt like it was all in my control,” Scott recalled.
“I think it was an 8-iron. I just pushed it a couple yards and it caught the edge of the green and rolled off into not the best spot.”
Scott leaning on experience at Aus Open | 14:23
Scott’s chip was overcooked, and he was unable to salvage a par, leaving McIlroy another 10-foot putt, but this was one for birdie and the win.
It never looked like it was missing, and Scott’s shot at the elusive triple crown was done.
“It’s an amazing game how it can just turn like that and Rory holes the putt,” Scott said.
“But that’s what great champions do when they get given an open door. They kind of walk right through it.”
With the Australian Masters becoming defunct two years later, it would be the last time someone would have a shot at achieving the rare feat of the triple crown.
For McIlroy, it was a big sigh of relief after a challenging year that included struggling with a change of equipment after signing a monster deal with Nike and a bitter legal battle with his former management company.
“I wanted to get a win by the end of the season and finally I have been able to get one,” McIlroy said at the time.
“But more satisfying than that is being able to take one of the best players in the world down the stretch and come out on top.
Adam Scott after missing a putt on the 18th.Source: News Corp Australia
“Adam is a phenomenal golfer and a great competitor, and probably even a better guy. I feel a bit sorry I was the one to ruin the triple crown for him. Adam should be very proud of himself. He is a credit to the game and a credit to this country.
“It is a very prestigious tournament. Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, it seems like most of the greats of the game have won this tournament, and I am honoured to put my name on that trophy.”
The win served as a launching pad for a year where McIlroy lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool and won a second PGA Championship.
At 45 years old, Scott, who won the Australian Open at New South Wales Golf Club in 2009, sees no reason why victory this week could not be a springboard for a Father Time defying season in 2026 – when he is set to play his 100th consecutive major and push for an astonishing 12th Presidents Cup appearance.
“It spurred him on for a great 2014, so, you know, it’d be fun if I could turn the tables and make amends for that one this week,” Scott said.
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