Fortinet Australian PGA Championship: Form stats for this week's co-sanctioned tournament in Queensland

• Bunkers 'a significant part of its defence'

• Min Woo Lee 8/19.00 can make it third time lucky

• Smith 5/16.00 the standout to retain title

Tournament and Course Notes

• The new DP World Tour season tees-off in Brisbane, less than four days after the old one reached its conclusion in Dubai - and just a few hours ahead of the Joburg Open starting in South Africa;

• Royal Queensland Golf Club was opened in 1921, although the course staging at this week's tournament is only 16 years old;

• This new layout was completed in December 2007, having been designed by former Tour pro Mike Clayton. It is a largely flat course, with wide fairways, little rough and located on the north bank of the Brisbane River;

• However, there is an abundance of strategically-positioned bunkers which have been described as being 'a significant part of its defence'. Although this parkland course has plenty of sand, water hazards should only be a problem for Tour pros on four holes;

• This week's tournament is being co-sanctioned by the Tours of Australasia and 'Europe'.

Latest betting for this week's Fortinet Australian PGA Championship

Good Current Form And Strong Course History

Among the players who are enjoying good current form, and also have a decent course history, are Min Woo Lee 8/19.00, David Micheluzzi 33/134.00 and Ryo Hisatsune 25/126.00.

Min Woo Lee has twice finished fourth at Royal Queensland. The first of these was at the Australian PGA Championship in January 2022.

And, 10 months later, when the tournament was co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, the current world No 45 repeated this feat.

The well-travelled Australian won on the Asian Tour last month, and followed this by finishing tied-sixth on the PGA Tour, and then on Sunday posted a T-15 in Dubai.

Micheluzzi, meanwhile, has posted back-to-back top-10s at Royal Queensland, and he arrives in Brisbane having finished 2nd-1st in his last two starts on the Australasian Tour.

He followed a tie-for-second in the Queensland PGA Championship, with a victory on Sunday in the Victoria equivalent.

Hisatsune, winner of the French Open in September, has been one of the most consistent players on the DP World Tour this year. He was runner-up in this event 12 months ago.

The 'top seed' is defending champion Cameron Smith 5/16.00 who is probably among the leading five golfers in the world right now.

However, being part of the Saudi-backed LIV Tour, means he rarely gets an opportunity to boost his position in the World Ranking.

He finished second in the LIV Tour's 'Order of Merit' for 2023, thanks to a brace of victories and one runner-up slot.

Good Current Form

A number of players teeing-up this week are currently enjoying solid form on some of the less-reported Tours around the world.

These include Harrison Crowe 150/1151.00, Ben Eccles 400/1401.00, Lawry Flynn 200/1201.00 and Kazuma Kobori 200/1201.00.

Although none of these are likely winners, they could easily force their way into an E/W position by Sunday.

More noteworthy are the appearances of Cameron Davis 12/113.00, Robert MacIntyre 25/126.00 and Adrian Meronk 12/113.00 who could all end up holding aloft the trophy on Sunday afternoon.

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World Ranking Points

Most Points Since July 1st, 2023 (Top 12 Listed)
56.24: Robert MacIntyre
46.06: Cameron Davis
41.08: Ryo Hisatsune
36.11: Adrian Meronk
32.52: Alex Fitzpatrick
32.26: Daniel Hillier
28.44: Min Woo Lee
24.11: Grant Forrest
24.05: Connor Syme
21.91: Adam Scott
15.84: Richard Mansell
15.70: Calum Hill
Only those entered this week are included in table

Note: In Course Form table, 22-1 (Jan `22) refers to an event staged only on the Australasian Tour, while 22-2 (Nov `22) was also co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour.

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Read Steve Rawlings de-brief on last week's action