Following a week in which the golf world’s attention was placed squarely on Augusta National there are 29 Aussies in action across six tours from Thursday including the return of the European Tour after a short layoff and the first appearances of Australian players on the Champions Tour for 2021.

The Japan Golf Tour also recommences its wrap-around season this week but the Aussie contingent are waiting patiently in quarantine before they will be able to join the field at next week’s Kansai Open Championship, Brendan Jones unable to defend his Token Homemate Cup victory of two years ago.

The majority of Aussies who contested The Masters have chosen to skip this week’s RBC Heritage tournament at Hilton Head with the exception of Smith.

Now the highest-ranked Australian male player at No.26 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Smith was tied for 10th at Augusta and is considered one of the favoured chances at a venue that has proven to be kind to his fellow countryman over the years, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman, Peter Lonard and Aaron Baddeley all victorious at Harbour Town Golf Links.

There is a large collection of our best female players in action this week at the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship with Green eager to build on her tie for 14th at the ANA Inspiration and Minjee Lee seeking a second win at the event, albeit at a different venue.

Recording her third top-20 finish at a Major at the ANA, rookie professional Gabriela Ruffels is seeking her breakthrough LPGA Tour title that would secure her status on the world’s premier female tour.

The resumption of the European Tour will see Jake McLeod and Deyen Lawson make their first appearances for the year at the Austrian Golf Open where Austin Bautista will make his second start on the European Tour a week after getting engaged.

The pursuit of a 2022 PGA TOUR card continues on the Korn Ferry Tour in Las Vegas this week where Brett Drewitt enters the MGM Resorts Championship at Pauite as the only Aussie inside the top 25 on the moneylist in 22nd position.

Curtis Luck is currently in 37th position followed by Brett Coletta (58th), Ryan Ruffels (70th) and Harrison Endycott (80th), all of whom are in the field in Vegas.

Round 1 tee times AEST

European Tour
Austrian Golf Open
Diamond CC, Atzenbrugg, Austria
3.50pm Austin Bautista, Maverick Antcliff, Laurenz Kubin
5pm       Deyen Lawson, Jeff Winther, Alexander Knappe
8.30pm*              Jake McLeod, Aron Zemmer, Janne Kaske

Defending champion: Marc Warren
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Maverick Antcliff
TV schedule: Live 9.30pm-2.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 10pm-2am Saturday; Live 9.30pm-2am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.

PGA TOUR
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
9pm*     Danny Lee, Denny McCarthy, Tyler McCumber
9.22pm Cameron Davis, Kyle Stanley, Maverick McNealy
2.45am Cameron Smith, Tyler Duncan, Sebastián Muñoz

Defending champion: Webb Simpson
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1977), Greg Norman (1988), Peter Lonard (2005), Aaron Baddeley (2006)
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Smith
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.

LPGA Tour
Lotte Championship
Kapolei Golf Club, Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii
3.55am*              Minjee Lee, Jennifer Kupcho, Jenny Shin
4.06am Katherine Kirk, Sei Young Kim, Inbee Park
4.06am*              Su Oh, Cristie Kerr, Hyo Joo Kim
4.17am*              Hannah Green, Brittany Altomare, Kristen Gillman
7.55am Sarah Jane Smith, Pavarisa Yoktuan, Lindsey Weaver
9.01am Lydia Ko, Moriya Jutanugarn, Cheyenne Knight
9.34pm*              Gabriela Ruffels, Emma Talley, Haru Nomura

Defending champion: Brooke Henderson (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Minjee Lee (2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Gabriela Ruffels

TV schedule: Live 9am-1pm Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday on Fox W 511.

Korn Ferry Tour
MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute
Paiute Golf Resort (Sun Mt GC), Las Vegas, Nevada
11.40pm*            Aaron Baddeley, Johnson Wagner, Kevin Dougherty
11.51pm*            Jamie Arnold, Trey Mullinax, Jared Wolfe
12.33am*            Steven Alker, Shawn Stefani, John Chin
12.43am              Robert Allenby, Seth Reeves, Brandon Harkins
1.04am*              Ryan Ruffels, Matt Atkins, Patrick Fishburn
1.15am Nick Voke, Michael Miller, Chandler Blanchet
1.15am*              Harrison Endycott, Rico Hoey, Brent Grant
4.45am Curtis Luck, Whee Kim, Drew Weaver
5.16am Rhein Gibson, Scott Gutschewski, Taylor Moore
5.16am*              Brett Drewitt, Chad Ramey, Charlie Wi
5.58am*              Brett Coletta, Sangmoon Bae, Jim Knous

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Coletta

Symetra Tour
Casino Del Sol Golf Classic
Sewailo Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona
1.18am*              Robyn Choi, Jenny Lee, Savannah Vilaubi
4.51am*              Julienne Soo, Emilee Hoffman, Mia Landegren
5.02am*              Soo Jin Lee, Amanda Doherty, Isi Gabsa
5.35pm Stephanie Na, Cindy Ha, Laura Wearn
6.19am Hira Naveed, Marta Martin, Min A Yoon

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Robyn Choi

Champions Tour
Chubb Classic
Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling

Defending champion: Scott Parel
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: Live 2am-4.30am Saturday on Fox Sports 506; Live 5am-7.30am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505.