• Australian Masters, Round Four

Scott blows Poulter away in Melbourne

Adam Scott and Ian Poulter enjoyed a good battle on Sunday © PA Photos

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Adam Scott extended his record of having won a tournament in every year since 2001 after overcoming Ian Poulter in a head-to-head duel to claim the Australian Masters on Sunday.

Scott, the current world No. 5, started the day a shot behind the Englishman but overwhelmed him in what was effectively a matchplay battle - hitting the front early and keeping the pressure up to eventually triumph by four shots.

Scott, whose previous win on home soil came at the 2009 Australian Open, shot a final round 67 - as Poulter, the defending champion in the event, could only muster a mediocre 72.

Scott had failed to win in 2012 despite some strong performances, most notably at the Open Championship where he threw away a four-shot lead late on, but believes Sunday's success will help him in his quest to break his major duck next year.

"I hadn't quite got back in that position [at the Open] until today but I felt good out there," Scott said. "I just had to trust that all the work I'd put into my game was going to hold up and to not get in my own way is the big thing - not let thoughts of what happened at the Open or any other negative thoughts come into play.

On his major aspirations, he added: "Everything else is part of the process to getting there. Winning here is an important part of that winning-a-major process."

Poulter started with the lead but quickly fell behind, as Scott birdied both of his opening two holes. The Ryder Cup hero was back ahead by the sixth tee but his opponent then made the decisive move - reeling off three birdies in a row to leave Poulter struggling to stay in touch.

The back nine saw the Englishman make costly errors - with a short missed putt at the 17th after trying to avoid Scott's putting line eventually extinguishing his chances.

"Adam played very solid and forced me into a couple of silly mistakes," Poulter said. "He's a worthy winner."

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