THE first full-field event of the 2013 US PGA Tour gets underway this week with the Sony Open taking place at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu starting Friday morning Australian time.
John Senden leads the Aussie contingent of eight golfers and hopefully to a year that will better the solitary win this country recorded on the tour last year.
That winner was Marc Leishman, who was also the only Aussie to contest the season opening limited-field Hyundai Championship.
The Hyundai event finally concluded Tuesday local time after high winds prevented play for a couple of days.
Big hitting American Dustin Johnson won the Maui event and is again expected to feature prominently after island hopping to Oahu.
The experts are also looking to Zach Johnson, Mark Wilson, Charles Howell 111, Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson and Matt Kuchar as possible contenders.
Apart from Senden and Leishman, Australia’s hopes rest with Robert Allenby, Matt Jones, Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy and Steve Bowditch.
There’s also Scott Gardiner and Alistair Presnell, making their US PGA Tour debuts as cardholders through their performances last year on the secondary Web.com Tour.
The Sony Open will be screened live in Australia on Fox Sports beginning Friday 11am to 2.30pm with the usual repeats.
2013 Sony Open Leaderboard
2013 Sony Open Leaderboard