As an Asian Tour rookie in 2014, Cameron Smith produced a run of seven consecutive top-10 finishes to end his season and will be trying to recreate that sort of momentum when he tees up at this week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

An even par round Sunday capped off a week of positives for the Queenslander in his T11 finish at last week’s Sanderson Farms tournament and with his confidence high it would be no surprise to see the 23-year-old in the mix again.

At each level of his short career, Smith has proved himself up to the task and the only thing missing from his Professional resume is a tournament victory.

Having now climbed to the most competitive circuit in the world, and having had a genuine taste of Sunday pressure, the former Australian Amateur Champion will be hungrier than ever.

While he has made just one previous appearance at TPC Summerlin for a missed cut, it is a buoyant Smith who will take his place in the field for what is historically a low scoring affair.

With wide fairways and large greens the course tends to favour those who can get hot with the putter and Smith, while generally a better performer on more demanding tracks, is capable of that style of play.

Smith is one of nine Australians making the trip to Las Vegas, joined by former winner Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, Steven Bowditch, Greg Chalmers, Matt Jones, Rod Pampling, John Senden and Geoff Ogilvy.

Not surprisingly it is Baddeley, regularly one of the TOUR’s best putters, who has proved the most consistent at this event with no missed cuts in five starts.

His best result was a T8 in 2010 before he took the tournament off his schedule for five years, returning last season for a T33 finish.

Greg Chalmers, another noted for his work on the greens, has a similarly impressive record with just two missed cuts from 11 starts and three top-15 finishes.

The West Australian has finished mid-field in each of his two starts this year and will be looking for something a little better this week.

While Chalmers will reflect on a 2016 that brought his first PGA TOUR win Bowditch will be glad the season is in the rear view mirror.

His struggles over the past 12 months have been well documented and having missed the cut in his only start to date this year the likeable Queenslander is surely due a turnaround in form.

Matt Jones and Geoff Ogilvy haven’t found the going as tough as Bowditch but both could do with a confidence boost after producing less than their best golf in the past year.

Jones’ slump is a particular surprise after his superlative effort to hold off Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth at last year’s Australian Open while Ogilvy showed flashes of form but never managed any sustained good play.