Adam Scott says his five over-par performance at the World Golf Championships event in Miami proves he needs to practice more as his Masters title defence looms in one month.

Scott failed to break par in any round as he finished tied 25th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral, nine shots behind winner Patrick Reed.

The Blue Monster course has undergone a significant revamp in the last 12 months under owner Donald Trump and it caused many of the world’s best golfers plenty of headaches, with only three players finishing under par.

But it was still an unacceptable week for world No.2 Scott.

“I won’t take a lot out of this week other than I need to practice more,” said Scott.

“I will work on the usual stuff, trying to tighten things up as always.”

After his third round Scott spent significant time on the range practicing alignment and posture but seemingly struggled with it further on Sunday as he shot one-over 73.

“I will take a couple of days off and then get into it and hopefully get a good feel from there,” he said.

“I just need to see where it is at in a couple of days.

“If it is horrible it will be a lot of work. If it is feeling good I will try to keep fresh.”

With Tiger Woods also struggling at Doral – he tied with Scott – Scott will once again have the chance to move to world No.1 in his next start, due on March 20-23 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club in Orlando.

But he will instead focus on making progress from his practice and ensuring he’s firing come the Masters at Augusta National from April 10-13.

“I think it is important I take something out of my practice week and put it into play at Bay Hill, getting a little more consistent will be the major goal there,” he said.

“The game is all there so it will be fine and I have three weeks and a tournament ahead of me before I have to get worried.”