Adam Scott determined to keep 'going in the right direction' after dramatic Lytham collapse

Adam Scott admitted he had ‘let a really great chance slip’ (Getty Images)

Adam Scott's stock rose in inverse relation to the scale of his fall. Just as Rory McIlroy's decline at the 2011 Masters and his response to it overshadowed Charl Schwartzel's victory, so Scott's sportsmanship and resolve after blowing the Open eclipsed the storyline fashioned by the champion Ernie Els.

"I know I've let a really great chance slip through my fingers. But somehow I'll look back and take the positives from it. I don't think I've ever played this well in a major championship, so that's a good thing for me moving forward.

"All the stuff I'm doing is going in the right direction. This was one of those days," Scott said.

McIlroy, who took a four-shot lead into the final round at Augusta, bounced back at the very next major to win the US Open. Perhaps Scott's quadruple-bogey demise over the closing four holes at Lytham at the weekend is a prelude to a victory at the US PGA.

"Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet. Maybe there will be a bit more disappointment when I get home and wind down.

"It's all a lot to digest, but I'm a positive guy, I'm optimistic and I want to take all the good stuff that I did this week and use that for the next time I'm out on the course."