Back from the depths of despair, Adam Scott says he may well be playing the finest golf of his career entering this week's British Open.
Scott, 32 on Monday, spearheads a 12-strong Australian contingent in the 141st Open at Royal Lytham and St Anne's from Thursday and feels closer than ever to finally breaking his major duck.
"I know it's all there. It's just one of these weeks it's all going to happen," said Scott after a solo practice round on the famed English links course on Sunday before caddie Steve Williams arrived.
Scott enters his favourite tournament boasting three top-10 finishes from the past six majors - plus a tie for 15th at last month's US Open - and buoyed by a last-start, season-best third behind Tiger Woods at the USPGA event in Maryland.
"I'm coming in really confident," said the world number 12.
"I just feel good about my game. It's up there for sure with the best of my career."
It is no secret that Scott's revival coincided with his switch to a long putter just weeks before his runner-up showing at last year's Masters.
But as he strives to end Australia's six-year major title drought on Sunday, Scott revealed the crippling extent of his one-time putting woes and the relief of leaving such tribulations behind.
"It eats you up," he said.
"You work so hard to get it up there and then you can throw away a shot potentially from about a foot or so.
"The ups and downs were horrible. That's what happens in golf, but it was either really good or really bad. There was no in between.
"That makes it very hard to play and, once the confidence goes, it just puts so much pressure on other parts of the game and you can't balance it out.
"Eventually it catches up with you. No matter how good you're swinging it, you just can't hold up to the pressure of how close you need to hit it to make a putt."
Long regarded as among the best ball strikers in the game and winner of 23 tournaments worldwide, Scott plummeted from number three in the world to outside the top 50 in 2009, but said overcoming his putting troubles had finally freed him up again.
"It was really tough," Scott said.
"It's such a mental part of the game and for me walking out there feeling really solid with it for the last 18 months, I feel like I'm not ever going to shoot a bad score.
"It makes going out on the course less stressful, knowing you're going to putt alright all the time.
"So it's a good thing and I'm trying to make the most of it."
Scott's transformation is reflected in the US PGA Tour's stats, where he ranks second in putting from 10 to 15 foot, as well as first for approach shots from 125-150 yards and second for most birdies on par-4s.
The Queenslander made his first-ever major cut at Lytham back in 2001 - when the event coincidentally was held from the same dates, July 19-22, and hopes such omens help him deliver on his golf's grandest stage.
"The Open is just awesome. There's just no spectacle like coming up the 18th," he said.
"So many people in the grandstands right behind the green and with the clubhouse there, it's fantastic.
"It's just got such a great atmosphere and to be playing this kind of golf, you can see how golf started on this kind of links.
"It's the way the game is meant to be played. There's so many options and everyone can play it and it would be great to be in the mix late on Sunday."
AAP
Tags: sport, golf, united-kingdom First posted July 16, 2012 16:37:03
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