Refreshed after a week off, former champion
Adam Scott will be among the favourites at this week’s PGA TOUR stop, the Dean
and Deluca Invitational in Texas.

Scott achieved an important goal when he
took the title here in 2013 as the reigning World Number 1 and will be drawing
on those memories, and some solid recent play, when the gun goes off Thursday.

Since returning from a month long post
Masters break at the Wells Fargo tournament, Scott has produced good
performances on difficult courses with a 2-under effort at Quail Hollow and a
T12 at The PLAYERS a fortnight ago.

With two wins already under his belt in
2016 Scott is in the midst of a potentially career defining year and his
statistics suggest he has everything in place to go on with the job.

Always one of the best strikers in the game
there is no surprise he ranks first in Strokes Gained Tee to Green but it is on
the putting surfaces where the most encouraging signs are to be found.

The Queenslander has proved the naysayers
wrong in terms of his switch to the short putter, currently gaining 0.2 of a
shot per round on the field which, when combined with 2.2 shots gained
elsewhere, is a winning formula.

Scott will be one of seven Australians
teeing up at the course known as ‘Hogan’s Alley’ after the great Ben Hogan won
five times there.

Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Steven
Bowditch, Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden and Marc Leishman will try to become the
fifth Australian to win after Bruce Crampton in 1965, Bruce Devlin in 1966, Ian
Baker Finch in 1989 and Scott three years ago.

Scott aside, John Senden might be the best
bet among the Australians having posted three top-10 finishes at the tournament
in 13 appearances.

His best, a T5, came just two years ago and
while he has struggled early in the 2016 season Senden has been on a mini
comeback of sorts over the past six weeks.

A course that rewards consistent ball
striking, Colonial is the type of layout which suits Senden’s style of play and
if he can get the putter going this week he could be a factor.

Also taking the first steps on the comeback
trail last week was Steven Bowditch who, despite missing the 54-hole cut in his
title defence at the Byron Nelson tournament, showed signs of his game recovering
over the first two days.

Having endured a miserable run of form
since January, Bowditch is off the radar of most but the Queenslander is
capable of going low any given week if he can find some confidence.

Week to week form has never been a great
predictor for the two time Tour winner but with both his victories coming in
Texas this could well be the week he turns things around.

Aaron Baddeley is another Australian
looking to get back on track after a brilliant first half of the year which has
all but assured he will be back as a full PGA TOUR member in 2017.

Having played his way into the top-90 on
the FedEx Cup standings, Baddeley has gone off the boil in recent weeks with
back to back missed cuts at The PLAYERS and Byron Nelson events.

An infrequent visitor to Colonial in his
career Baddeley missed the cut last year but did have a top-10 finish in 2006
when T6 so knows he can play the course well.

Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Geoff Ogilvy
round out the Australian contingent though none has a particularly strong
record in the event.

Leishman has made the cut each of the five
times he has played for a best finish of T21 two years ago but will be buoyed
this week by the news he is officially in this year’s US Open field.

Leishman was one of 27 players exempted
into the year’s second major yesterday after maintaining his place in the world
top-60 after last week’s Byron Nelson tournament.

Reigning Emirates Australian Open champion
Matt Jones has found the going tough both at Colonial historically and in 2016
generally.

Jones has missed three cuts in five tries
at this tournament and has missed his last three consecutive cuts on Tour
though is due a change in fortunes soon.

Geoff Ogilvy is faring little better than
Jones in season 2016 with just four cuts made in 14 starts though a T7 at this
event in 2008 suggests he has a chance to perform well this week.