Scott sets higher goals for game's biggest events
KAPALUA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Almost five years have slipped away since Adam Scott won the biggest title of his career at the Players Championship and he is eager to regain the winning habit in golf's premier events.
Although the athletic Australian has triumphed six times on the PGA Tour and also on the European circuit, he has yet to make his mark on the game's biggest stage -- the majors.
"I have high expectations for myself and I think I've done well but I could have achieved more," Scott told reporters on Tuesday while preparing for this week's Mercedes-Benz Championship. "But it's all part of the process.
"Winning the Players Championship was great but it feels like a lifetime ago now, and it's gone quick," he added, referring to the tournament at Sawgrass widely regarded as the unofficial fifth major.
"You know, that's what I want to feel again. I want to feel that big win. A lot of hard work went into that, and that's what I want to get back in to doing."
Scott clinched his sixth PGA Tour title at last year's Byron Nelson Championship but described his injury-plagued 2008 campaign as a frustrating one overall.
"It was a good year for me to look back on and learn a lot out of it," the 28-year-old said. "It was the first time in my career that I had really struggled, and it wasn't even really struggling on the course.
ROAD BUMP
"It was more just a bit of a struggle with everything else going on, frustrating injury, illness, some personal stuff, and probably the first time there was a bump in the road for me. Before that, my career had just cruised along nicely."
Scott, whose world ranking has slipped to 15th from a career-high third, battled recurring tonsillitis in 2008 before ending the year with a knee injury that sidelined him from the Australian Open.
Having not yet fully recovered, he will tee off in Thursday's opening round at the Kapalua Resort with a measure of uncertainty.
"I'm not really sure how I'm playing," he said. "It (the knee) feels pretty good, although I haven't played for a long time. The knee is probably about 90 percent. It's pretty good and obviously good enough to be here."
While not prepared to share the details, Scott said he had gained extra motivation for this year in the last few weeks.
"Something got me inspired to just work a little bit harder again and get going," he said. "I kind of felt like that's what I was doing at the start of last year and I just didn't get to complete it.
"I'm just a little more determined to go out there and make it happen in the next couple of years."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
