FORMER WORLD NUMBER THREE DETERMINED TO REDISCOVER FORM

Scott tries to forget bad year

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During the CA Championship last week, 60 of the 80 players in the field finished the week under par.

Adam Scott wasn’t one of them, as the Australian toiled to a tie for 66th at Doral.

While the best in the world are taking the week off, Scott is playing the Transitions championship in Florida after a lacklustre performance.

The Masters is just three weeks away, and this is one of just two tournaments he will play before heading to Augusta National.

“This place is really good. I think it’s good preparation for Augusta,” Scott said of Innisbrook’s Copperhead course, where Sean O’Hair is the defending champion.

Scott, 28, is doing his best to put a disappointing 2008 season behind him.

Although he won the Byron Nelson Championship and rose to number three in the world behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in time for the US Open, not much has gone right since.

A bout of tonsillitis, a broken finger, a dislocated knee cap and a breakup with a longtime girlfriend were the lows. “I’m trying to forget last year,” said Scott, who missed two events in his native Australia before Christmas due to the knee injury. Nothing was really going my way.

“I felt I was doing everything right, especially in Australia, playing really good.

“It didn’t really work out. At the moment, the way I’m preparing, I’m looking forward to April.

“I feel pretty good with how I’m coming along. I’ve been working on a few things in my swing which haven’t come along on the golf course right yet.

“I’ve hit enough good shots to say I’m on the right track.

“I’m trying to sharpen myself up the next few weeks before Augusta.”

After the Transitions Scott is scheduled to play next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational before taking a week off prior to the Masters.

He also hopes to get in some more work with instructor Butch Harmon, who he worked with at Doral and the Match Play.

“He struggled last year,” Harmon said. “He had some personal issues. He had some health issues. He had the knee problem. The knee was bothering him at the beginning of the year. But that’s not really the problem. He’s been trying to get it strong, but he just can’t seem to get anything going.

“He’s happy with the way he’s swinging the golf club. He just needs to see some good things happen.”