Adam Scott has renewed putting confidence heading into Augusta

When Adam Scott speaks about the Masters, he can hardly contain his enthusiasm.

“Looking forward to it, obviously,” Scott said. “It’s my favorite time of year, that’s for sure.”

The 2013 Masters champion is usually itching to return to Augusta National, and even more so this year. He was second at Torrey Pines and tied for seventh at Riviera, then tied for 12th at the Players Championship.

“I feel very good about where my game’s at,” Scott said before The Players. “I played in the last group twice in my last four events on a Sunday and just didn’t quite get over the line both times.”

Scott skipped the three events between the Players and Masters to prepare. He hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since a pair of wins early in 2016, and getting a victory is a priority for the Aussie.

His performance at last year’s Masters wasn’t satisfying as he failed to break 70 and wound up tied for 32nd.

Since his playoff win over Angel Cabrera six years ago, Scott has only produced one top-10 finish at Augusta National.

“I feel I’m on top of my game, just at that point for me to go out and execute it,” he said. “I’ve done the work, and I will do work before I get there, I’ll be ready. I’ve got a good plan. I’m very confident that I’ll be ready to play there.”

Part of that confidence might stem from Scott feeling more confident with the putter and is even experimenting with different styles. The new rules that went into effect at the beginning of the year allow players to leave the flagstick in at all times, and Scott has been taking advantage of that.

“I feel like on shorter putts when the pin is in I have a nice reference point of the exact middle of the hole and something to aim against,” Scott said. “I’m not trying to hit putts harder and smash it into the pin, and it’s just more of a reference of aim, but I have putted better, and I think if I were to hit one too hard, I doubt I would hit one so hard that it bounces out from short range.”

He plans to use the same strategy at the Masters.

“I mean, if it’s working, I’ll just keep doing it,” he said.

Scott used an anchored putting stroke with a long putter in his Masters win, but that was banned at the beginning of 2016. He used a conventional putter until after last year’s Masters, when he went back to the long putter without anchoring it.

With the rule change allowing flagsticks to be left in, Scott decided to try some different putting styles. He said he’s found success with three different methods: arm lock, broomstick and claw.

“So what I feel like is I have three incredibly good ways to putt with three incredibly good putters,” Scott said. “I can either kind of float the broomstick or I can arm lock or I can do some kind of claw short putter with a very stable putter head.”

He hopes it all adds up to a win, preferably at Augusta.

“I feel like there’s going to be a week here soon where I’m going to put it all together,” Scott said at the Players. “If it’s not this weekend, no better time than for it to be at Augusta.”