ANNA SCOTT felt broken last year and wondered if a major long-standing hip problem would prevent her from returning to the top table of her sport.

Almost seven months after undergoing an operation to try to address the injury, the County Durham pro is in a happier frame of mind and focused on establishing herself on the Tour scene.

Scott will fly out to Shanghai on April 15 to embark on the Chinese LPGA Tour as she looks to prove her fitness after years of frustration which placed her playing career in doubt.

The 31-year-old finished in one of the coveted 30 places at qualifying school and is looking forward to getting back on the circuit.

The short-term focus for the Consett professional, who now lives in Germany between Cologne and Dusseldorf, is to shine in the Far East before taking the steps required to force her way back onto the European Tour. She still harbours hopes of playing on the LPGA in the USA.

Scott, speaking before a physio session yesterday, said: “I have not played a full field Tour event for two years. I was just playing little things around here in Germany. I was constantly back and forwards.

“Between 2012 and 2015 I just couldn’t get it right. It was really hit and miss. Sometimes my scores were alright. I couldn’t move too much and in pain. It was a really hard time and mentally it was really hard. I couldn’t understand why no-one could help me.”

The search for a solution damaged her mindset and game. Scott has stayed in Germany, with her boyfriend Daniel Finke, to find a way back and was working with Kolngolf as a teaching assistant when she went down the German PGA route.

While Scott thinks she will head back to teaching, she is just excited to be heading on Tour and hopes it is the start of a change in fortunes.

She said: “It’s been three years I have been out here. I came here for a year with my Tour card, I worked with an American coach in the south of Germany. But I had problems with my hip and back.

“I have just turned 31. I was doing my LPGA and I thought I was completely done with playing. I couldn’t play two weeks in a row because I had too many problems. I was getting frustrated, I didn’t want to jack it in but I felt I was broken.

“Then I met this doctor who said ‘let’s have a look’, I had been with so many and had no luck. He found the problem, referred me to another surgeon in Germany, otherwise I’d have needed a hip replacement.

“Last September I had an operation to rectify the problem. It went really well. I was on crutches for eight weeks. I wasn’t allowed to put weight on my left leg. I only started to hit balls at Christmas. Two weeks ago I was out in China! I suppose it is like a second chance.”

Scott is used to travelling, having attended Georgia State University where she did journalism before leaving in 2009. The big hitter is an ex-British girls champion and in 2011 she finished third on the Canadian women’s tour order of merit.

Scott said: “I didn’t know what to expect from my game when I went to qualifying school in China. I have got a full card and the aim is to get as many world ranking points as possible.

“My main aim is to get to the American qualifying school in August.

“I am still a member of the European Tour, I am a member of the Chinese LPGA, so if I go on the tri-sanctioned events the money will count towards the European order of merit. If I can get a few good finishes and go to final qualifying, it’s a back door way in.”

But Scott, who has done a year of the PGA qualification course, still has teaching to fall back on.

She said: “Last year I really enjoyed it. I struggled a bit because my heart wasn’t really ready to be finished.

“Over here, generally, they want memberships and they want golf lessons. In the summer I could have ten hours teaching every day if I opened a book up.

“In general it’s more expensive here, but they invest more into it and want lessons. A handicap over here is a status symbol, sometimes I miss the banter side of back home.”