Ryan Fox has proved himself an adept performer in the European Tour’s recently introduced Rolex Series events and after making the cut at the BMW PGA Championship for the first time will look to build on that at the lucrative Italian Open this week.

The Rolex Series was introduced in 2017 and boasts eight events with minimum prize funds of US$7 million, Fox finishing top-6in three of them in their debut year in 2017.

With T4 finishes at both the Irish and Scottish Opens and an outright sixth at the French Open, the New Zealander has shown a liking for the higher stakes events.

A missed cut at the Italian Open last year, however, is less of a concern than it otherwise might be with the tournament shifting both venue and dates in 2018.

Fox is one of 11 Australasians who will tackle the Gardagolf CC in Brescia, in the country’s northern Lakes District, Marcus Fraser, Wade Ormsby, Jason Norris, Sam Brazel, Scott Hend, Andrew Dodt, Brett Rumford, Jason Scrivener, Josh Geary and Adam Bland also teeing up.

Fraser is one who would have been happy to see the tournament stay where it was after a fifth place finish last year though a missed cut at Wentworth last week will have him determined as he heads to the first tee.

The Victorian wasn’t the only Australasian frustrated last week, Andrew Dodt and Fox the only players from this part of the world to play all four days in England.

Dodt tees up for just the fifth time in Italy’s national championship where he has twice missed the cut and boasts a best finish of 37^th.

His form in recent weeks has been promising with three cuts made in his last four starts and his final round 69 at Wentworth, his best of the week, will have given him some confidence.

For the rest it has been a bleak few weeks with missed cuts the order of the day.

Brett Rumford has gone four consecutive events without playing a weekend, as has Sam Brazel, while Scott Hend has missed three on the trot and Wade Ormsby and Jason Scrivener two. Adam Bland has qualified for the final two rounds just once in his past five tournaments.

Clearly, all need to lift though at this level form can turn around quickly and it would be no surprise to see any of them in the mix this week.