The South Pacific Open Championship provides a number of the up and coming players on Tour the opportunity to shine.

It also sets them up for a number of opportunities with the
champion gaining full status on the PGA Tour of Australasia, which provides
them with a starts in all the big tournaments, including the Fiji
International.

For players without a start in the $1.125million tournament
at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course in two weeks time, winning the South
Pacific Open Championship is their last way into the field.

A number of players come into this week in excellent form
and will be aiming to translate that into a victory.

Players we think you should be watching this week include:

Adam Stephens:
The defending champion will return to Tina Golf Course this week with plenty of
confidence. Adam blitzed the field in 2014 to win by five shots, the biggest
winning margin in the tournaments short history. Since his maiden victory on
the Tour, Adam has struggled to recapture his winning form and has made just
two cuts in nine starts. However, he has good memories to draw upon this week
to see him in better form.  

Brett Rankin: Not
arriving in Noumea until the night before the tournament shouldn’t prove a  challenge for Brett to overcome. He jets into
the South Pacific tournament straight from a hot streak of pro-am victories in
Queensland. Brett has won the last four pro-ams on the Sunshine Swing of the
Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series in a cumulative 20-under-par. Familiar with the
Tina Golf Course layout, Brett finished tied 5^th here in 2013, his
best finish for the year.   

Mitchell A. Brown: Another
player in excellent form on the Choice PGA Pro-Am Series is Mitchell A. Brown. Already
a proven winner on the PGA Tour of Australasia, Mitch looked back to his best
at the season opening Oates Vic Open. He fired an impressive 9-under 63 last in
the second round before going onto finish tied 14^th. Since then he
has won two big three round pro-ams. If Mitch can put together four solid
rounds this week he is sure to be in contention in an event where his previous
best finish was tied 10^th last year. A win this week would secure Mitch
a start at the Fiji International.

Daniel Valente: The
South Pacific Open Championship marked the start of an excellent summer of golf
for Daniel last year. His tied 5^th finish in Noumea was enough to
see him earn a start at the WA Open Championship. He added a further three
top-10 finishes to his season. More recently, Daniel  was tied 5^th after two rounds at
the Isuzu Queensland Open. 

Taylor Macdonald: Playing
just his second tournament as a Pro, Taylor will use his freshness and
enthusiasm to his advantage this week. Taylor has already shown he has a handy
game, he finished tied 14^th in his Pro debut at the Isuzu Queensland
Open, which could have been even better if one large number hadn’t made its way
onto his scorecard. While this is just his second tournament as a Professional,
Taylor is already familiar with the Tine Golf Course layout having played the
South Pacific Open as an amateur in 2013 finished tied 18^th. Like
Mitchell A. Brown, a win this week would secure Taylor a start in the Fiji
International.  

While these are five young Pros looking to capitalise this
week there are plenty of experienced contenders to overcome including the
inform David Bransdon and Matt Millar and Web.com Tour player, James
Nitties.