Adam Scott has had a rough 2009.  He was recovering from a busted knee that he suffered during surfing in the off season.  Then, his rumored suaree and relationship with Kate Hudson turned out to be a hoax (that I capitalized on during April Fool's Day), and Kate Hudson wound up becoming a necking buddy with A-Fraud.  He's also been called a globetrotting playboy by Australia tabloids and been rumored to now be interested in tennis great Ana Ivanovic.

His golf has not been very good this season.  Coming off a season in '08 featuring a playoff win at the Byron Nelson, Scott has been subpar at best this year.  Scott has missed 8 of his last 10 cuts, including the Masters and Open Championship. 

Luckily for him, the Bridgestone Invitational has no cut.  He sits in dead last - along with former amateur and Irish Open winner Shane Lowry - after a first round of 78 at Firestone.

After his win in the Players Championship in 2006, Scott was pretty much considered to be the next young gun to break through in a major.  Now, it appears that Scott could not be further from that goal.

Scott has been saying that he is working on swing changes to correct some technical problems with his swing.  Given that Scott's coach Butch Harmon considered his mechanics as better than Tiger Woods' in the last few years, the timing of the changes seems bizarre.  But Harmon and Scott are working on a swing plane change that will hopefully pay dividends once perfected.

Scott told Steve Elling in May that he felt close.

"Trust me, I have been working hard and it's just not there yet," he said. "It's a massive change. But it honestly feels like it's one solid round away from being good."

Today was not that one solid round.