MONTREAL – Adam Scott gazed at a painfully familiar leaderboard perched just left of the 12^th green as a few dozen fans lingered stoically. The U.S. Presidents Cup team was 10 minutes away from clinching its 13^th victory in the event and there was nothing the Australian could do about it.

The Royal Montreal edition was Scott’s 11^th start in the biennial blowout that has, save for a single moment in a previous century, gone exclusively the Americans way, and it was impossible not to read the body language of a player who is 0-10-1 on the international stage.

It wasn’t always this way. When Scott began his career in the matches, he was the fresh-faced up-and-comer — The Players champion — determined to challenge the United States’ dominance in the game.

In his first start at the matches in 2003, Scott went 3-2 for a team that played the U.S. side, and Tiger Woods, to a draw in South Africa. Two years later at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, he again produced, going 3-1-1, despite an International loss.

Everything since has been a disappointment.

Following another fruitless week for the Rest of the World, Scott is now 22-28-6. Lost on that scale is his victory alongside Taylor Pendrith on Day 2 that set the team record for points won and helped square this edition at 5-5, but ultimately did little to change an outcome that’s become far too familiar.

Scott hasn’t had a winning record since his first two Presidents Cups and he was 2-3 at Royal Montreal as the U.S. team rolled to an 18 ½ to 11 ½ victory. Yet even in defeat — just as he has been for more than two decades — he held tight to the notion that victory is within sight for the International team.

“I had a great feeling for this team coming in. I felt like there’s been an evolution under this shield the last two cups, four or five years of that, and buy-in from all the international players,” he said following his Sunday singles loss to Collin Morikawa. “It’s something that they aspire to play for. But you know, the result unfortunately is the same.”

More than any other player, Scott has been the face of the Presidents Cup, for sometimes better and more often than not worse.

Morikawa was his 11^th different singles opponent and he’s had 19 different partners in team play with little to show for his efforts. While his loss Sunday dropped him to 5-6 in the individual format, it’s his team play that’s so baffling.

From Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to Pendrith and Hideki Matsuyama, he’s played alongside the Rest of World’s best with stunningly poor results and yet he stands as the pride, and perhaps the pain, of the International team.

When asked Sunday if he was driven to earn a spot on the 2026 squad that will take on the Americans, it was Tom Kim, who is half Scott’s age, who spoke for the team.

“Let’s make it three more. Three more,” Kim declared.

That’s the thing about legacies: they’re not always filled with accomplishments and accolades. For everything that Scott has earned in his career, from winning a major championship to more than two decades on the PGA Tour and 14 Tour titles, the Presidents Cup has always driven, and baffled, him.