World No.6 Adam Scott believes the field at this week's Australian Open should not underestimate the Stonehaven Cup's ability to kickstart a golf career.
The 36-year-old Scott can list two World Golf Championships event titles, a Players Championship and a Tour Championship among his 13 US PGA Tour titles.
Yet he says he ranks his five-shot triumph from Stuart Appleby in the 2009 Australian Open at New South Wales Golf Club alongside all his greatest victories except his majors masterpiece, the 2013 Masters.
"It's my national championship, I was the national champion of Australia and that means a lot to me," Scott told AAP.
He also credits that victory with lifting him out of his worst slump and pointing him back toward the summit of world golf after a dismal season in which he had dropped out of the top 50 in the world rankings and the top 100 on the US PGA Tour money list.
"It just kind of freed up everything for me; it gave me a lot of confidence to get that monkey off my back in Australia and let me get on my with career a bit. It was a real kick in the right direction," Scott said.
This week, the 13-time US PGA Tour winner returns to the scene of his Australian Open heartbreak in 2013, when Rory McIlroy famously pounced on his 72nd-hole bogey at Royal Sydney to snatch victory.
Scott believes the confidence boost from that was an important factor in McIlroy's breakthrough 2014 season which saw him bag major championship wins at the British Open and US PGA Championship.
"I've seen a lot of guys (perform) down in Australia at the back end of seasons in which they haven't got a win," Scott said.
"It was a big turning point for Rory after what everyone seemed to think was a horrendous year for him. And then he goes and has a cracker of a year the next year."
Likewise Jordan Spieth upstaged a field including Scott and McIlroy to claim a six-stroke Australian Open win at the end of 2014 and subsequently acknowledged the boost it gave him was pivotal in his breakout 2015 season, when he won the Masters and US Open.
"You know, just getting that (Australian Open) win, even though it might not be the biggest tournament in the world, is such a big thing for the confidence and they (foreign players) have a good time and appreciate everyone down here supporting them so much," said Scott.
Scott arrives at Royal Sydney after a year in which he hasn't missed a single cut and claimed two US PGA Tour victories.
Facing a field which includes Spieth among 11 former Australian Open champions, Scott is gunning for his second Open title and sixth PGA Tour of Australasia win and said winning his national championship was a childhood dream.
"It's been a goal of mine since I was kid to win (the Open) on the great tracks back in Australia."
