After a more than month long break it will be a motivated Scott Hend who returns to action at this week’s Shenzen International in China looking to improve on a fourth place finish last year.

Hend last played at the Hero Indian Open in March where he missed the cut at a brutally difficult golf course but will be back in his comfort zone at this week’s host venue, the Shenzen International Golf Club.

This week marks Hend’s third appearance in the event and with a T15 in his first year and T4 12 months ago he will be among the players to watch when action gets underway Thursday.

Hend leads an eight strong Australasian challenge which includes Sam Brazel, Andrew Dodt, Nathan Holman, Brett Rumford, Wade Ormsby, Jason Scrivener and Ryan Fox.

Rumford, Scrivener and Dodt all missed the cut in their only appearances to date while Wade Ormsby has twice teed up for a T15 and T54 finish.

Ryan Fox makes his debut at the event as a European Tour rookie as does Sam Brazel who leads the Australian charge on the Race to Dubai courtesy of his Hong Kong Open win late last year.

Rumford plays for just the second time since winning the inaugural ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth but it would be a mistake to read too much into a missed cut at the Hero Indian Open.

That tournament was played on a course as tough as any Professional event in history and suggests little about the form of those who teed up there.

Brazel’s last start was the WGC Mexico Championship where he played some better golf than his final result indicated.

In the strongest field he would have encountered in his career he produced 16 birdies on a difficult golf course though also stumbled with two double bogeys and a triple during the course of the week.

Brazel will be a better player for the experience and it would be no surprise to see him in the mix come Sunday afternoon in China.

Andrew Dodt’s form since an excellent showing at both the Australian PGA and Hong Kong Open has been less than his best but fresh from a lengthy break will be keen to get going again in China.

Dodt last teed up in Perth in February where he missed qualifying for the matchplay stage so rust may be a factor this week.

Wade Ormsby could be the surprise packet of the Australian contingent coming off a successful week in Morocco last week.

The only one of the Australians to make the cut at the Trophee Hassan tournament the South Australian continues to trend in the right direction as he comes back from injury and has shown a level of comfort on this course previously.