Andrew Dodt leads an eight strong Australasian assault on the European Tour this week when the inaugural Rocco Forte Open is played in Sicily.

Dodt is the highest placed of the Australasians in the field on the Race to Dubai rankings, his current standing of 43^rd behind only tournament winners Sam Brazel and Brett Rumford this season.

As one of the smaller events on the European Tour schedule the Rocco Forte Open offers some of the lesser players a chance to shine and all the Australians in this week’s field will be keen to grab that chance.

Joining Dodt at the Verdura Golf Club are Marcus Fraser, Nathan Holman, Jason Scrivener, Nick Cullen, Daniel Fox, Wade Ormsby and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.

Only Jason Scrivener and Wade Ormsby of that group are inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai and all could do with a good performance this week.

Ormsby is the only one of the group to have played a tournament at the course, teeing up at the Sicilian Open in 2011.

For Fraser this week marks his first tournament since missing the cut at the Indian Open in March on a course that frustrated some of the Tour’s best players.

The 37-year-old will be well rested ahead of a run of big events in the next wo months and while likely rusty after such a long break is among the better credentialed players in the field.

Dodt has had a hit and miss year, missing the cut in his last outing at the Volvo China Open just a week after storming home with a final round 67 at the Shenzen International.

Scrivener, too, missed the cut at the Volvo China Open and is yet to find his best form in 2017 though remains consistent with just three missed cuts in nine starts

With many of the Tour’s biggest names skipping this week’s event there is an excellent opportunity for Nick Cullen and Daniel Fox who both earn starts.

Both made the cut at last week’s Open de Portugal and while finishing further down the board there than they would have liked will be glad for the opportunity to tee up again this week.