Adam Scott has rated his troublesome knee as &apos90 percent recovered&apos in the lead up to the first event of the 2009 US Tour season, the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii. Scott dislocated his knee cap running out of the surf in Queensland in December and was forced to withdraw from last year&aposs Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open in controversial fashion. “The last month has been full of intense rehab on my knee just to be able to get here,” Scott said. “The knee is pretty good, obviously good enough to be here. It&aposs not quite a 100 percent. Unfortunately, this course is quite a tough walk, so that&aposs going to be the test for me here this week.” Scott will be hoping to kick-start his stalled career after a forgettable 2008 that was punctuated by injury and poor form, but the 28-year-old has decided to take a philosophical view of what was a tough 12 months. “Last year was a frustrating year for me but it was a good year for me to look back on and learn a lot out of,” he said. “I wouldn&apost say it&aposs a wasted year. It was pretty productive in the first half of the year and a lot of things, but having a bit of a break from the Tour and a break from the game, even though it was a forced break at the end of the year, was quite good for me.” “It gave me a chance to clear my head and get my ducks in a row. I was eagerly awaiting 2009, to be honest.” Scott also admitted that last year was the toughest of his professional career and that issues off the course, as well as on it, had contributed to the tough time he endured. “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. My career had just cruised along nicely (up until that point),” he said. “I should have gone home around the USPGA and just gotten my head together and gotten everything straightened out. I was sick, I was not happy, and I needed a break.” “Certainly I was complacent at that time. My results were pitiful. I was not happy out on the golf course. In hindsight, I should have done that. But hopefully I know for next time.” The event is a favourite of the South Australian who has played it three times for three top-10 finishes, his best result being a runner-up finish in 2007 to Vijay Singh. “Obviously, it&aposs nice to start in Maui … you can get your year off to a fast start with a good week here, so that&aposs really the goal. (I&aposm) just looking forward to playing again. It&aposs been a while.” Scott will be fighting it out for tournament honours with fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy who qualified alongside Scott after both players won on the US Tour in 2008. Scott took out the EDS Byron Nelson Championship while Ogilvy won the World Golf Championships-CA Championship in the early stages of what was an at-times difficult 2008 for the 31-year-old as well. “Last year&aposs start was obviously a bit rough,” he said. “I played well from Florida &apostil the U.S. Open, and then I kind of lost the plot a little bit and didn&apost really play very well at all after the U.S. Open.” “I don&apost know why that was, it was just one of those things. I wasn&apost playing very well and got beaten up at Oakland Hills, like most people, and after that, lost motivation after that.” “But at the end of the year I ended up playing pretty well. Hopefully, I can start well this year and play better through the middle, hoping to play well.”