DEFENDING CHAMPION: Reduced to 54-holes and completed in near darkness due to storms, the inaugural event saw Tom Power Horan claim his maiden win over West Australian Brady Watt, having started the year without a Tour card.

COURSE: Located 90 minutes from Melbourne, Yallourn Golf Club is considered one of the best layouts in the Gippsland region. Playing to a par of 72, the course’s Santa Ana Couch surfaces are well-conditioned and a feature at Yallourn.

PRIZEMONEY: $125,000

PLAYERS TO WATCH …

As the lone major champion in the field, Geoff Ogilvy certainly deserves some attention as he returns to a world rankings-counting event for the first time since February last year.

The Victorian missed the cut at this event in 2019 after two rounds of 75, but if he can make it through to the match play section, the US Open winner’s status will be a big hurdle for younger players, so too his experience having won the WGC Match Play twice and finishing runner-up once.

European Tour winner and Olympian Marcus Fraser gets his 2021 campaign underway this week and will be looking to improve upon his T6 in this event in 2019.

RIGHT: Tom Power Horan claimed his first PGA Tour of Australasia win in 2020. PHOTO: PGA of Australia.

Fraser has started teaching the game in Melbourne having returned home from a long career travelling the world in recent years, but the competitive fire still burns and clearly he found Yallourn to his liking last year.

Anthony Quayle produced some quality golf in his limited opportunities in 2020, and the Queenslander will be keen to find the same form as he gets this year underway.

Quayle was 6th in his last Tour start in the Northern Territory having claimed his first win as a professional at the Queensland Open in February, and has a solid all-round game that should suit this layout and the unique format.