The 33-year-old West Australian carded a five-under final round of 65 at the Renaissance Club to record his fourth top-20 finish of the year – he finished in a tie for 16th – while also confirming his place as a St Andrews smokey.

“It’s always nice in those big events to test your game against the best players so to shoot the low score of the day was very nice,” Scrivener – whose best finish in a major of tied 23rd came at the PGA Championship last year – said.

“Every part of my game is heading in the right direction. On Sunday, I holed a few nice putts which was good. My putter got hot. 

“My game has been trending in the right direction in the last couple of months so it was nice also to get some momentum coming into this week. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Since turning professional in 2013, Scrivener has plied his trade predominantly in Europe and he knows the Home of Golf well due to playing the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship annually.

The way the Old Course is playing this week vastly differs to the challenges of September and October however, and that is why he slugged it out in Wednesday’s practice round when others called it quits early due to slow play.

“I’m learning the course again because we play it every year for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and it’s a lot softer and the pins are a lot easier. There’s a lot more to take in as you go around now,” Scrivener said.

“To be honest I haven’t really had that much success in links golf. But I do enjoy it. I don’t think it necessarily suits me but I do really enjoy it.”

Scrivener will also be ready for strong St Andrews crowds this week with his Wednesday practice group gaining a lot of attention from patrons due to the presence of US Open winning Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.

Round 1 tee times AEST

3:35pm Min Woo Lee, Webb Simpson, Paul Lawrie

4:30pm Lucas Herbert, Phil Mickelson, Kurt Kityama

5:03pm Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Seamus Power

6:25pm Brad Kennedy, Ernie Els, Adri Arnaus

7:53pm Anthony Quayle, Zander Lombard, John Parry

8:36pm Jed Morgan, Ryan Fox (NZ), Mark Calcavecchia

10.15pm Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Dustin Johnson

11.15pm Jason Scrivener, Shugo Imahira, David Law

12.43am Dimitrios Papadatos, Matt Griffin, Laurie Canter