There are too many Australian story lines at this week’s Travelers Championship to try to pick just one but we’ll start with the chances of Marc Leishman who will stand on the first tee at TPC River Highlands with mixed emotions.

After a disappointing missed cut at last
week’s US Open despite showing promising form in the lead up the Victorian now
returns to the site of his only PGA TOUR victory looking to prove his Chambers
Bay performance was merely a blip.

Leishman said in the run up to the US Open
he felt his game was building towards something and recent results bear that
out.

A terrific run at the WGC Matchplay and a
T5 at Memorial prove his game is in good shape and with positive memories from
his 2012 victory at every turn he’s a good chance to get back on that run in
Connecticut.

Leishman has never missed the cut at this
venue and finished T11 last year so is comfortable on the course.

Also attracting plenty of attention this
week will be the player with the most intriguing story of last week’s US Open,
Cameron Smith.

A virtual unknown outside Australia heading
into his first career major Smith was the talk of the tournament late Sunday
after hitting one of the most memorable shots of recent memory to the 72^nd
hole.

The only player to shoot par or better in
all four rounds at Chambers Bay Smith is undoubtedly in form and if he can
manage the unavoidable let down of regular tournament golf after the intensity
of last week’s setting he will be one to watch.

Still only 21 Smith has impressed at every
level of the game and while yet to win a Professional event there is no
question he has the tools to compete at the very highest levels.

He gains a start this week courtesy of his
top-10 finish at Chambers Bay but his performance there ensured this won’t be
his last appearance.

The former Australian Amateur champion has
now earned Special Temporary Membership to the PGA TOUR and is eligible to
receive unlimited sponsor invites the rest of the year.

Another big opportunity looms for Smith
this week with the top-four
players, not previously eligible, who finish among the top 12 (and ties) at the
Travelers Championship qualifying for The Open.

If there is a tie for the
last position it will be decided by world rankings with the highest ranked
player earning the invite into the year’s third Major. This is good news for
Smith who made a massive leap up the Official World Golf Rankings after his US
Open finish and is now ranked 89^th in the world.

Other Australians in the field this week
are Matt Jones, Steven Bowditch, Greg Chalmers, Aaron Baddeley and Cameron
Percy.

Both Jones and Percy have been nominated on
the PGA TOUR website as among the ‘Five Who Might Surprise" though neither has
a particularly good record at the event.

The TOUR’S analyst Rob Bolton says he likes
Jones’ short game numbers for the season and he comes into the event off a T5
finish two weeks ago while Percy’s back-to-back top 25’s attracted his
attention.

Of the rest Aaron Baddeley finished T4 here
last year and would be pleased with a similar result this year after a mini
slump since March.

Baddeley has missed five cuts in eight
starts with a best finish of T55 when he has played the weekend and at 146^th
on the FedEx Cup points list could do with a high finish.

Greg Chalmers will need to overcome a
hoodoo at River Highlands if he is to have a high finish, the left hander
missing the cut eight times cuts in 12 starts since 1999.

Steven Bowditch is the last Australian in
the field and although his record here is poor (three missed cuts in four
tries) past form is rarely a good indicator for the Queenslander.