Adam Scott is looking to next month's US Open with renewed confidence after finding some good putting form on the greens at the Players Championship.
After a late surge to tie for sixth at Florida's TPC Sawgrass on Sunday, Scott says he'll dive head-first into a rigorous practice regime ahead of a trio of consecutive tournaments culminating with the US Open in June.
World No.11 Scott, who closed with a two-under-par 70, finished as the leading Australian at five-under-par and five shots adrift of 21-year-old winner Si Woo Kim.
Unheralded South Korean Kim fired a bogey-free 69 to bag a three-shot win over England's Ian Poulter (71) and South African Louis Oosthuizen.
The 21-year-old Kim became the youngest winner in Players Championship history, eclipsing the record set by Scott when he won in 2004 aged 23 years eight months and 12 days.
After a ninth-place at the Masters and another strong showing at the $US10.5 million Players Championship, Scott is confident of stepping up his results at the US Open, historically his weakest grand slam.
The 36-year-old's best finish at the year's second major is fourth (2015) and he only has two top-10s from 15 US Open starts.
"I've performed well at the Masters and the Players. There were good signs tee-to-green both events and my putting was really solid this week," said Scott.
"I've got three really important weeks coming up, ending in the US Open. So far, I've managed to peak for the right events but if I can step it up that extra 20 per cent I'll be right there (at the US Open).
"I'm confident I can do that for that hot run through the (US) summer."
Scott will tee it up at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial tournament in Ohio before playing the FedEx St Jude Classic a week later and the US Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin immediately after.
But first, the 2013 Masters champion says he'll dedicate the next three weeks practising at his Bahamas base with a "more focused" attitude.
"I'm going to make the adjustments; not more hours of practice but more discipline and monitoring the set-up of my swing and discipline on the range," said Scott.
Australia's world No.3 Jason Day claimed an unwanted record for the worst-ever final round by a defending champion since the Players moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, signing for an 80.
Day, who has romped to a four-shot victory in 2016, finished at seven-over for the tournament.
His horror Sunday began included a disastrous quadruple-bogey nine at the par-5 16th and a double-bogey 5 at the famous par-3 17th, sinking him to eight over and a tie for 60th.
Aaron Baddeley (three-over) and Rod Pampling (four-over) both shot 72.
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