Australian PGA Championship Preview

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

IAN POULTER continues his rehabilitation from the foot injury that ruined his season when he competes in the Australian PGA Championship at RACV  Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

A look at the history of this event reads like a who's who of Australian golf - it was won in 2010 by Peter Senior, in 2011 and 2014 by Greg Chalmers, in 2012 by Daniel Popovic, 2013 by Adam Scott and 2015 by Nathan Holman, widely tipped as a star of the future. Past champions also include Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson, Graham Marsh and legends such as Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player.

This course is a brute and the tournament, jointly-sanctioned by the European Tour and Australasian Tour, will be played in sweltering hot weather so it is going to take a very patient golfer to win. Poulter is desperate to start climbing the world rankings again and he is not heading to the Gold Coast to work on his tan. However, he is rusty and it would be a huge surprise to see him in contention. But on his last trip to Australia, Poulter went head-to-head with Scott at the 2013 Australian Masters, eventually finishing runner-up.

"Australia really is a fantastic place to play golf, I always receive such strong support from the fans, so I am looking forward to playing the Australian PGA Championship," said Poulter, who has played on Australian soil a previous 13 times. "To be playing a European Tour event down here is an opportunity I jumped at. It's a great chance to come back to a country I have previously performed well in and kick start my season. Plus, the Gold Coast sounds like my kind of place; sun, sand and plenty of entertainment. I'm looking forward to checking it out after my rounds.”

The battle for the trophy is most likely to be another Australian one, with Adam Scott, Scott Hend, Marcus Fraser and Marc Leishman all looking to impress the large home crowds. Robert Allenby, a man who has lost his way during the past couple of years, will be looking to win the PGA for the fifth time, to equal Kel Nagle's record. Not only has Allenby lost his game, but he also seems to have lost the plot in his personal life. He is a ferocious competitor and although not universally popular among his fellow players, it would delight more than a few people in the world of golf if he were to get things back on track.

Scott never seems to play badly in Australia. Is there a better ball striker in the world of golf? Probably not. He is a magnificent driver of the ball but it is with irons in his hands that the former Masters champion come sinto his own. And on a course that will play hard and fast, it is vital to strike the ball perfectly to have any chance of getting the ball close to the hole. Scott does that in his sleep. Astonishingly, he has also rediscovered a putting stroke that works when the pressure is on.

Leishman, too, continues to grow in stature. He is a player who has underachieved, but that is hardly surprising as much of his focus has been on the health of his wife, who nearly died a couple of years ago. She is now fully recovered, which has allowed Leishman to concentrate on sharpening his game - do you think he might enjoy winning on home soil? Here's a clue - yes, he would.

A couple of Americans have also decided to earn a few air miles, with Brandt Snedeker and Harold Varner having entered the tournament. Snedeker got back to winning ways in 2016 and is a delight to watch because he wastes no time and just gets on with it. In this day and age, when so many players take an eternity before pulling the trigger, Snedeker's average shot time is just 13 seconds. What a game this would be if  the likes of Jason Day and Keegan Bradley could take a leaf out of Snedeker's book. And the good news is that Varner is one of the few players who seems to have done precisely that. Small in stature he may be, but boy does he smack the ball a long, long way. And he will return to this venue with some good memories, having lost out to Holman in a playoff 12 months ago.

To Win: Adam Scott. Australia's favourite son

Each Way: Brandt Snedeker. Can win anywhere

Each Way: Marc Leishman. World-class player, if only he would believe it

Fantasy Picks:

Adam Scott. How will he cope on ultra-fast greens?

Brandt Snedeker. Blink and you will miss him

Marc Leishman. Better than he thinks

Harold Varner. Determined to go one better

Mark Holman. Comes back with good memories

Marcus Fraser. One of the gutsiest players out there

John Senden. Lovely swing, great temperament

Rod Pampling. Still celebrating recent PGA Tour win

Matthew Baldwin. Englishman living the dream after overcoming cancer

David Lingmerth. Underrated Swedish golfer