Renowned for his limited playing schedule and single-minded focus on the Majors; Adam Scott has a new approach to his Masters preparations.

This week Scott is teeing it up at the Shell Houston Open for the first time in seven years. It’s a move that will allow the Queenslander to hone his on course playing ahead of his pursuit for a second Green Jacket.

“I’ve had a fairly quiet 2017. I’ve played three events over here (USA). It’s part of my plan for the rest of the year is to play the week before the Majors and do something a little different than I have the past few years,” said Scott.

“I’ve played fairly average tee to green by my standards. My short game has actually been the one thing I’ve been quite pleased with.

“If I can bring the striking up to where it’s at, which I feel like it’s pretty much there, then I feel like I can do some good things the next couple of weeks,” added Scott, who is also using this week as a chance for he and Steve Williams to reacquaint themselves as a team.

“I have two caddies on the bag, and I’ve got to make sure of where my game is at before going to the toughest test in golf.

“It’s important that Steve sees me play this week and doesn’t come in blind going to Augusta.”

Having spent much of 2017 at home practicing at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast, Scott is using his week at the Golf Club of Houston to familiarise himself with the grass that is similar to Augusta National.

“I spent enough time on the range the last few weeks, I want to get out there and play and try and get sharp on the golf course,” added Scott.

“I felt I might have lacked that if I hadn’t played this week going into the Masters.

“I think that’s the biggest thing is very similar kinds of grass on and around the greens and the way it was with the firmness, the position of a strike is so important, spin control, all those kind of things.

“That’s been fun the last couple of days, chipping around the greens, and even on the practice green on the range being able to work on it and feeling like this is also being very productive for going to the Masters next week.

“Of course, when you get there, it’s slightly different. It’s a different golf course, got a lot more severe slope on the greens, but at least you’re working on the right kind of thing.”

A Major is always hard to win and Scott certainly comes into The Masters under the radar with Dustin Johnson rightly earning all the attention.

“To be able to keep it going is the hardest thing, and so far he’s (Johnson) on a three-tournament winning stretch, and that’s pretty impressive. Not many guys win three in a row.

“We’ll see if he keeps it going. Obviously he’s got to be feeling incredibly confident. That’s a great place to be.

“Back in January everyone would have had Hideki and Justin Thomas win the tournament. Now clearly Dustin is playing better. There’s this group of players, I don’t know the number we’ll put on it, 10, 15 guys, who if they play really well can control the golf tournament.

“You kind of look at Jordan, Rory McIlroy is No. 2 in the world. You can’t just breeze past him. He’s won four Major championships. He would win the Career Slam if he wins. He’s got to be incredibly motivated.”

However a win at the Shell Houston Open would certainly catapult Scott back into the spotlight and give him some good vibes heading to Augusta National.

“Obviously everyone who is playing next week has that in the back of their minds and I would love to take some nice form in with me,” added Scott.

Catch The Masters action live on FOX Sports and Channel 7 from Thursday 6 April.

TV Schedule available on pga.org.au.