Ben Coley previews the Australian Open and thinks there are grounds for opposing the big three.
The Royal Sydney Championship Course plays host to the Australian Open for the first time in five years and organisers couldn't have wished for a better platform for their flagship event.
It's one built by Adam Scott, who will bid to follow in Robert Allenby's footsteps and become just the second man ever to win the Triple Crown - or the 'Scotty Slam' as it's now been nicknamed.
The world number two has already won the Australian PGA and the Talisker Masters and while solo success in the World Cup at Royal Melbourne wasn't to be, history is still there to be made.
And it's not like his failure to win last week left Australian fans and officials with nothing to cheer, is it? Because such was Scott's determination not to let Jason Day down that the Australians won the team event and Day the individual title. As silver linings go, it was pretty much perfect.
Throw Rory McIlroy and the bandwagon that rolls along with him into this week's mix and you've a tournament to savour; a fitting way for both Scott and his adoring fans to round off the year. If there is a Sporting God (which there isn't, obviously), Scott will win once more.
But let us not allow emotion to cloud the picture. While Scott is undeniably the best player in this field as of this moment in time, there are reasons to take him on at 3/1. The vast success he's enjoyed of late perversely makes him easier to oppose, because while not beyond his powers it would take an extraordinary effort to produce 72 more holes of excellence under such intense focus.
There have been signs of fallibility of late that substantiate the view that he's worth taking on. Scott needed help from Matt Kuchar to win the Talisker Masters, having looked to have made a fatal mistake turning for home, while last week's World Cup bid was derailed on day one with a remarkable nine which saw Scott - ball-striker par excellence - have to reload not once but twice from the tee.
None of this is to say he can't or won't win at a course where he finished fifth on his sole visit in 2006, but as betting propositions go he's not an appealing one. Nor too is McIlroy, with recent signs encouraging but nothing more. This is a course which requires surpreme control and tests all aspects of a player's game and I'm not quite sure the young star is ready for the grind which awaits.
Day, therefore, is the one who makes sense at the head of the betting. Buoyed by last week's World Cup win, he's the type to thrive in the heat of battle here and will be doing his very best to upstage his friend and rival. He has no course experience to speak of, but it'll be tough and that's just how he likes it.
But I'm looking elsewhere. I believe there's just a small group of players who have realistic claims here, but the second tier of that group includes a couple who, while coming with risks, are clearly more than capable and represent better value than Day.
First up is Geoff Ogilvy, who found a return to form with his return to Australia when finishing 67-69 for seventh in the Talisker Masters.
That weekend display caught the eye for many reasons, one of which was that he bettered Scott and was just half a shot down on runner-up Kuchar in terms of scoring average.
But more pertinent is the fact that those rounds came after a switch in putter which saw Ogilvy - once one of the most deadly operators on the green - find some confidence once more. It's not lacking in his long game, with the former US Open champion claiming he's "hitting the ball well enough to contend anywhere".
If that's the case - and Ogilvy is as forthright as they come, so should be taken at his word - then he has to be considered a threat at a course he's played three times, finishing 10th, sixth, and second in 2006 when John Senden's birdie-birdie finish denied him the title.
Ogilvy has since gone on to win an Australian Open, not too far away from this week's venue, and this old-fashioned, tight, twisting par-72 is exactly the sort of puzzle he relishes. He is an outspoken champion of classic course design and Royal Sydney is one of Australia's finest examples.
While Senden and, to a lesser extent, Ogilvy's old adversary Allenby must be considered on a course which rewards the former's exceptional driving, it's the more erratic Aaron Baddeley who gets my second vote.
Baddeley has endured a disappointing year or so, failing to build on his win at Riviera on the PGA Tour back in 2011. However, recent signs have been somewhat encouraging with a fifth in the CIMB Classic due reward for the work he's been doing with coach Grant Waite.
"I really like where I am at with my game and working with Waite now I feel we have a really good plan," he said on Monday, and that's encouraging ahead of his return to a course which holds a special place in his heart.
Back in 1999, bright young Baddeley won the Australian Open at Royal Sydney while still an amateur, showing poise beyond his years to hold off the likes of Greg Norman, a hero to all Aussies of Baddeley's generation.
"It's pretty amazing that it was 14 years ago and it's just flown by," he said.
"Even just walking around the golf course today I still remember vividly so many of the shots I played in winning the 1999 Australian Open here at Royal Sydney.
"It's always very special going back to a place where you have won before but coming back here to Royal Sydney is extra special and it always will be."
To prove that was no fluke, Baddeley returned to the course in 2006 and finished ninth despite an opening 75, producing a weekend score bettered only by the eventual first and second.
Clearly, this is a venue that serves him well even if you'd have concerns about his ball-striking on paper. It's interesting to note that many of Baddeley's best PGA Tour efforts - including his wins at Riviera and Harbour Town - have come on old-fashioned, tough courses, so perhaps they produce a greater level of concentration from a player prone to losing focus from time to time.
Whatever the case, Baddeley, like Ogilvy, is good enough to serve it up to those at the head of the market and merits each-way support in an event which will, in all likelihood, see a proven performer upstage a mix of promising and journeyman locals.
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