Almost 50 years since Bruce Devlin picked up $US25,000 for his two-stroke victory in 1972, Smith arrives at Memorial Park Golf Course on the back of a top-10 finish at the CJ Cup and with a growing reputation as a perennial tournament contender.

His playoff loss at the Northern Trust had him positioned to become Australia’s first FedEx Cup champion and another strong showing this week will propel him inside the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career.

The Houston Open has proven to be a happy hunting ground for Aussies over the years with Devlin’s victory followed a year later by Bruce Crampton, who would go on to win again in 1975 and be inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

Devlin and 1983 Houston Open champion David Graham also feature in the Texas Golf Hall of Fame while in more recent years Stuart Appleby (1999, 2006), Robert Allenby (2000), Adam Scott (2007) and Matt Jones (2014) have added their names to the list of tournament champions.

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Scott, who played a practice round with Smith on Tuesday, returns to Memorial Park for the second straight year after finishing tied for 32nd in 2020 while Jason Day will be out to build on his top-10 finish from 12 months ago to arrest his slide down the world rankings.

The European Tour reaches its penultimate week of the 2021 season at the Greg Norman-designed Fire Course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai for the AVIV Dubai Championship.

Queenslander Scott Hend currently sits in 124th position in the Race to Dubai standings and needs to climb at least three spots this week to retain his full playing privileges for the 2022 season.

Min Woo Lee (sixth) and Jason Scrivener (16th) are guaranteed to progress to the DP World Tour Championship and should feel comfortable on the Fire Course that boasts elements similar to those found on Australian courses.

Rod Pampling and Kiwi Steven Alker will both contest the Charles Schwab Cup Championship finale on the Champions Tour this week, Anthony Quayle leads the four-strong Aussie contingent at the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan and Su Oh is out to improve on her position of 43rd on the LPGA Tour moneylist at the Pelican Women’s Championship in Florida.

Round 1 tee times AEDT

PGA Tour
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open
Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas
12.24am             Adam Scott, Patrick Reed, John Huh
12.35am             Marc Leishman, Tony Finau, Matthew Wolff
4.58am Cam Davis, Jim Herman, Adam Long
4.58am*             Jason Day, Hudson Swafford, Brian Harman
5.20am*             Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton

Defending champion: Carlos Ortiz
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Devlin (1972), Bruce Crampton (1973, 1975), David Graham (1983), Stuart Appleby (1999), Robert Allenby (2000), Stuart Appleby (2006), Adam Scott (2007), Matt Jones (2014)
Top Aussie prediction: Marc Leishman
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503

European Tour
AVIV Dubai Championship
Jumeirah Golf Estates (Fire Course), Dubai, UAE
2.20pm*             Jason Scrivener, Dean Burmester, Victor Perez
2.40pm*             Min Woo Lee, Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood
7.10pm Scott Hend, Eddie Pepperell, Tom Lewis

Defending champion: Antoine Rozner
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Min Woo Lee
TV schedule: Live 7pm-12am Thursday, Friday; Live 7pm-11.30pm Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503

Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
10.50am             Todd Sinnott, Seungsu Han, Takashi Iwamoto
10.55am*           David Bransdon, Tomohiro Ishizaka, Hyun-Woo Ryu
11.10am             Anthony Quayle, Yosuke Asaji, Hiroshi Iwata
12.45pm*           Dylan Perry, Koki Shiomi, Naoki Sekito

Defending champion: Jinichiro Kozuma
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1987), Roger Mackay (1991), Greg Norman (1993), Brendan Jones (2007)
Top Aussie prediction: Dylan Perry

LPGA Tour
Pelican Women’s Championship
Pelican Golf Club, Belleair, Florida
11.11pm             Katherine Kirk, Azahara Munoz, Annie Park
11.22pm*           Su Oh, Yealimi Noh, Gaby Lopez
12.17am*           Sarah Jane Smith, Alena Sharp, Kristen Gillman
3.48am*             Lydia Ko, Sophia Popov, Ally Ewing
4.21am*             Sarah Kemp, Perrine Delacour, Lauren Stephenson

Defending champion: Sei Young Kim
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Su Oh
TV schedule: Live 2am-5am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 507

Ladies European Tour
Aramco Team Series Jeddah
Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Saudi Arabia
Round 2 tee times
2.58pm*             Stephanie Kyriacou, Lina Boqvist, Laura Beveridge
7.42pm*             Whitney Hillier, Chloe Williams, Anais Meyssonnier

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephanie Kyriacou
TV schedule: Live 10pm-2am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 507; 1am-3am Saturday on Fox Sports 503

Champions Tour
Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona
Australasians in the field: Steven Alker, Rod Pampling

Defending champion: Kevin Sutherland
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: Live 8am-10.30am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503