U.S. Open 2026: Adam Scott isn't close to being done after reaching 100 straight major starts
Try to do anything 100 times in a row and something is bound to go wrong. That’s not fatalism. Those are just the odds.
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That’s why it’s best to not actually try to do something 100 times in a row but just keep going on your way, ride out whatever improbabilities carry you along and see where you end up. And, well, son of a gun, that thing you just kept doing now reaches a rare milestone, and everyone marvels at the crazy consistency extending over 25 years(!). They ask you how you did it and, really, the only answer you can give is that you have to be lucky and good. But what you don’t say is that you have to be mostly good. Because that isn’t you. But that is mostly the truth.
When Adam Scott embarks on his opening round Thursday in the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., he will have accomplished a feat that only Jack Nicklaus achieved. A month shy of his 46th birthday, the Australian native will appear in his 100th straight major championship.
Scott has been somewhat reluctant to talk about the streak, not out of superstition so much as fatigue. He’s been asked about it for a few years now as the starts piled up, and Scott was fielding questions last month at the PGA Championship at Aronimink about playing in his 100th major. So even if Woody Allen once said, that “90 percent of success is just showing up,” Scott can be forgiven for tiring of the subject, especially when just showing up is a questionable measure of success.
Adam Scott celebtrates winning the 2013 Masters.
Andrew Redington
“Yeah, it’s not something that you set out to do, obviously, but I take a lot of pride in my game and everything I put into it,” Scott said. “Kind of the fact that Jack’s the only other one to pass 100, and he’s way up there. I told him he didn’t have to worry about that. He didn’t look worried, either. Says a lot. But yeah, I take a lot of pride in trying to maintain my game at that high level and to do that for this long, I’m proud of that achievement. I would love my record to be a little better, but there’s still a little time.”
It’s gratifying to be mentioned in the same breath with Nicklaus, and two weeks ago at Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, Scott posed for a photograph with the Golden Bear, who occupied tee sheets for 146 majors in a row and 154 overall.
But Scott makes a crucial point about his performance in the majors. Not that he would be inclined to compare his record to Nicklaus’. That’s not an exercise any sane golfer would undertake. Nicklaus won the career Grand Slam—the Masters, U.S Open, British Open and PGA Championship—three times over with his record 18 major titles. He also collected 19 seconds, 56 top-fives and 73 top-10 finishes.
Scott’s lone major victory came in the 2013 Masters, one of his 20 top-10 finishes. He’s in the club, a major champion, which is, at least, something, since only 235 men have won a major. But as he once said—and reiterated at Muirfield Village Golf Club—”I am playing all these majors to win them, not just to show up.”
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Nevertheless, he stands alone beside Jack, and that has significance. Or so says Mr. 146.
“I think to be prepared and be able to play and stay healthy is quite an achievement,” Nicklaus said during the Memorial. “Adam has kept himself in shape. He plays well. He’s got a few more years in him. Whether he’ll get 40 more, I don’t know. But anyway, he’s been a good player and he’s been right there. On a lot of tournaments, he’s had a lot of opportunity to win a lot more than he has. But he’s been a good, good player.”
“It’s absolutely incredible. I think to even just play 100 majors throughout your career is an amazing achievement,” said reigning Masters champion and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, whose current streak is 40, but would be at 70 were it not for an ankle injury playing recreational soccer that kept him from defending his British Open title in 2015. “I just think about the level that you need to be at and no injuries. … You know, just there’s a lot of things that need to sort of fall in line. So it’s incredibly impressive.”
Scott’s streak began in 2001 at the 130th British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in England. David Duval won the title at 10-under 274. Playing in just his second major, Scott finished 14 shots behind in a tie for 47th place. He couldn’t have known then the odyssey that awaited him, one that he confessed to Nicklaus, “feels like an eternity.”
There have been a few close calls to missing starts along the way. He persevered through the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines with a hand injury he sustained from getting it slammed in a car door. (In that same championship, Tiger Woods won despite knee and lower leg injuries that required surgery.) In 2024, Scott was ranked 61st in the world when the top 60 qualify, but in the wake of Grayson Murray’s death, the USGA considered Scott to be 60th and granted him entry to the field at Pinehurst No. 2.
Currently ranked 50th in the world, Scott has won 29 worldwide titles, maintaining a level of excellence that few achieve. But not to be discounted is the fitness aspect, the ability to avoid injury. The modern era revolves around power, and professional golfers push their bodies harder to remain competitive. But that comes with a cost.
“An extreme example I would use is Tiger. He pushed extremely hard and got to 14 majors really quick and then it all broke down a little bit and he couldn’t quite get to the record [Nicklaus’ 18 major titles] we all thought he was going to cruise past,” said Scott, who has avoided back problems that have stricken Woods and others. “Relative for everybody else, if they’re going to push themselves really hard, can they keep it together for these long careers we are kind of used to seeing in the game?”
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, who will make his 52nd consecutive major start at Shinnecock, wouldn’t disagree.
“If you asked how many it was for me, I guess I would have maybe gotten it somewhere in the ballpark. And then you think of doubling that and it’s insane,” said Spieth, who was 19 years old when he played in the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion to kick off his run. “It’s not only playing at a high level, it’s taking care of yourself the right way. It’s the longevity of a sport that most people, almost every single person that you think of that could have reached a hundred missed it because of injury.”
Two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas would see his own streak stretch to 45 in a row at Shinnecock were he not forced to miss the 2019 PGA with a wrist injury. Thomas underwent back surgery in November following the Ryder Cup and returned in March, enabling his participation in the major season that begins in April at the Masters.
“You never want to have back surgery, but, yeah, the timing was good in that regard,” he said. “So what Adam has done, it’s unbelievable. I can’t fathom it. It’s so impressive to be able to play that many majors consecutively. I mean, staying healthy is huge. But how about the fact that he’s been really good for 25 years? It’s extremely impressive. It’s nuts. I think it deserves more credit that he’s probably getting.”
Adam Scott hits a shot out of high grass during the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Andrew Redington
Following a final-round 66 at the Memorial, Scott said that he cares more about having more chances to win another major rather than the streak itself. But he can’t have one without the other. “Obviously, I need to keep going because there are still things I want to achieve in the game,” he said.
He is hoping his abiding affection for Shinnecock might yield that elusive second major title. His love for it is unrequited, however. One of just three players in this year’s field to have competed in the 2004 and 2018 U.S. Opens, Scott lists Shinnecock as one of his favorite courses in America despite the fact he missed the cut in each of the two previous championships. In 2013, he tied the course record of 63 during a casual round, but in the U.S. Open he struggled to a pair of 75s in 2004 and faltered again in ’18 with 78-75.
“Yeah, I’ve played two U.S. Opens there and haven’t played particularly well, but I’ve been there several other times and, for me, I’ll just argue with myself that it’s my favorite course on the East Coast of America,” Scott said. “It is kind of weird, but I keep telling myself I love it because I’ve been looking forward to this U.S. Open since the last one and wanting to get the better of Shinnecock this time because it’s had me.”
He goes in with a bit of confidence after his tie for 12th at the Memorial in what he classified as U.S. Open conditions, “at least for the first three rounds I played before the storm [on Saturday afternoon].” Other than a missed cut at the PGA, Scott has put together a solid season with eight top-25 finishes in 12 starts, mostly on more difficult layouts.
“It’s just been a run of playing really hard tracks,” he said. “I think it’s been since the Amex [The American Express] since I thought about going out and trying to tear a course apart. That was my first event in January. But I feel good about my game. It’s nice to start seeing some putts go in. I don’t know if you even call it momentum, but I have a bit more confidence, at least.”
At this point of the season, he has to feel battle tested. Scott offered a wry grin at that suggestion.
“I think at this point in my career, I’m really battle tested.”
Indeed. More than anyone playing today.
