Australian star Adam Scott is determined to show in the Open at Turnberry this week that he is back as a major force in golf – and that what happened just over a month ago need never happen again. Scott, fourth in the Scottish Open on Sunday, was third in the world at the start of July last year. With Tiger Woods out of the game injured it was not inconceivable he would go on to become golf&aposs next No.1, but the talented 28-year-old then went into a nightmare slump. At the start of last month he was not even in the top 40 and things came to a head after he had missed his sixth cut in a row. “I&aposve never broken a club in my life,” said the mild-mannered Scott, a seven-time winner in America and five-time European Tour champion. “But at the Memorial I had had a gutful and shouldn&apost have played. On the second hole three months of frustration came out and I broke my seven-iron.” “Of course I needed it about six more times and because there was no repair shop there that week I played the next day with only 13 clubs in my bag.” Thankfully, that was as bad as things got and Loch Lomond showed all his hard work was starting to pay off. The smile was back on his face and having tennis star Ana Ivanovic there to support him made him appear even happier. “Don&apost get me wrong, I was practising hard when I was playing badly, but I feel my game has come so far lately and it&aposs really just a confidence thing now,” he continued. “This is the best I&aposve felt this year – all aspects of my game have improved and I don&apost think I can hit it any better.” “I&aposve got to believe what I&aposm doing is right and not let the doubts creep in. That&aposs what does the damage and I&aposve got to get over that.” “I was trying not to dwell on all the bad stuff that was happening, but the last few weeks I&aposve started to feel really positive again.” Scott looked for all the world like a major champion in the making when he first turned pro – indeed, even before that, when he had a 10-under-par round of 63 in a European Tour event in Sydney when he was a 19-year-old amateur. Coached by Butch Harmon, who at the time was working with Woods, comparisons were drawn between the two and it was no great surprise when he became the youngest winner of the Players Championship in Florida five years ago. Like Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose, both born in 1980 as well, the wait for a first major goes on, however. Garcia has had countless near misses, of course, and Rose, fourth in the 1998 Open at Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur, stood on the 71st hole of the Masters two years ago with a great chance to win. Scott, though, has yet to do that. He was third in the 2006 US PGA but Woods was in a league of his own that day. Three years on, and after the most troubling period of his career, he might just be ready to fulfil all the promise of his youth.