Adam Scott believes this week's Wells Fargo Championship will be the ultimate litmus test to see if he can reel in Dustin Johnson before the American world No.1 achieves dominance similar to Tiger Woods.
The US PGA Tour event in Wilmington, North Carolina will be the first hit-out since the Masters for both Scott, whose world ranking has dropped to No.11, and 32-year-old Johnson.
While Scott tied for a solid ninth place at the Masters, big-hitting Johnson was forced to pull out minutes before the opening round after suffering a back injury during a freak fall down a staircase at his Augusta rental home.
Johnson arrived at the Masters as the hottest player on the planet following three victories in as many starts in 2017, including back-to-back World Golf Championship wins as he replaced Australian Jason Day at the top of the rankings.
The 36-year-old Scott believes DJ's hot streak is not unlike 14-time major winner Woods during his golden era from the early to late 2000s.
"(Dustin's) run is more like what we saw from Tiger, where he just continued to perform at a high level every time he pegged it up, for so many years," said Scott.
"If (Dustin) keeps that going, he's on track to being one of the greatest golfers that's ever played because he's got all the weapons."
With the Wells Fargo's usual venue of Quail Hollow staging the US PGA Championship in August, Scott claims new host Eagle Point Golf Club offers a "major examination" before next week's Players Championship and the US Open in June.
"It's a real examination; (Eagle Point requires) major-level concentration or you're going to run up some numbers pretty quickly around these greens," said Scott, who boasts a solid record of two top-10s and five top-25s from eight Wells Fargo starts.
"The next two weeks are very important; the Players is going to be a very big tournament but I feel like my game is in good shape."
Joining Scott are fellow Australians Stuart Appleby, Cameron Percy, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy, Steven Bowditch, Greg Chalmers, Brett Drewitt and Curtis Luck.
Queenslander Cameron Smith was a late withdrawal, the 23-year-old opting for a rest ahead of the Players Championship following his breakthrough victory at last week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Notables in the field include five-time major champion Phil Mickelson, rising Spanish star Jon Rahm and in-form American Kevin Kisner, who finished runner-up to Smith in New Orleans.
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