Adam Scott returns to Augusta next month to become the first Australian to defend the Masters.

It was just under a year ago Scott ended a 77-year Australian wait to be fitted with the famed green jacket.

However Scott returns to the ‘Cathedral among the pines’ knowing that is was also back in 2005, and a long nearly nine years ago, when Tiger Woods captured his fourth and what remains his last Masters championship title.

It was Woods seventh Major Championship win and while Woods had progressed to win just as many more Majors, he has not won at Augusta since defeating fellow American Chris DiMarco.

Adam Scott says after being informed in 2002 to work hard on his short game, 12 years on Augusta National is all about driving accuracy.

“I wasn’t aware of that stat but then like I’ve been saying for some time, there’s more good players with the potential now win Majors including the Masters,” said Scott.

“But it is an amazing drought that Tiger hasn’t won at Augusta in eight years but then again it’s back to ’08 since he also last won a Major, so that also is just incredible, really.

“It just shows a shift in the way the game has gone because for 10 years Tiger was so dominant yet he’s still Number One in the world, and still the best there is but then he is less dominant.”

Scott made his Masters debut in 2002 finishing a credible ninth to earn a return invitation for 2003 but since that first appearance a dozen years ago the proud Australian believes the emphasis in overhauling the Georgia golfing gem is not a great short game as he was first told, but an accurate driving game.

“Driving has now become a much more important factor at Augusta even in my time out there, as the golf course is getting tighter where errant driving is getting penalised more than ever before,” said Scott.

“That doesn’t mean hitting into the trees but even just hitting it to the wrong side of the fairways or whatever.  I don’t know the stats but I find Augusta hard to play if I am not in a great position off the tee.

“That’s why it makes hitting the fairway extremely important over the last good few years or so.

“You take the 11th hole as it’s now an animal even if you don’t hit the fairway.  You now have a really hard 4-iron or 5-iron into the green, and that’s if you are lucky enough to be in the middle of the fairway.

“So I find driving accuracy to be more of a factor now at Augusta than when I started playing Augusta in 2002.  All I was told back then is that your short game has to be in good shape if you are going to have a chance.

“But Augusta National is asking more now of being able to drive it to parts of the fairways where you need to be.”