To be the best you’ve got to beat the best and getting the better of Brooks Koepka at the Dunlop Phoenix Open is proving to be one of the toughest challenges in golf.

The two-time defending champion at the Phoenix Country Club returns to Miyazaki with two more major championships to his name and a PGA Tour Player of the Year crown and facing a field eager to take him down.

Leading the charge amongst the Australian contingent will be Brad Kennedy, the Queenslander on track to record his best finish on the Japan Golf Tour moneylist having broken a five-year winless drought earlier in the year.

Currently 13th on the moneylist, Kennedy is on course to better his best ever finish of 11th two years ago and continue his streak of finishing inside the top 30 every year since 2011.

Tied for 22nd at last week’s Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters, Kennedy boasts an excellent history in the Dunlop Phoenix Open, finishing tied for 11th last year and tied for sixth in both 2013 and 2016.

In a field that also includes Argentinian Emiliano Grillo, Kennedy is one of four Australians teeing it up alongside Brendan Jones, Won Joon Lee and David Bransdon, who received a sponsor invitation into the tournament.

Like Kennedy, Lee’s 2018 season has been one of resurgence, the 33-year-old finishing inside the top 20 on six separate occasions including a runner-up finish at the TOP Cup Tokai Classic.

Speaking to Japan Golf Tour Media this week, Lee revealed the nickname he received early in his golf career and how he would like to live up to it this week.

“When I first started playing some people would call me ‘Won Putt’,” Lee said.

“I used to be a pretty good putter and because my name is Won Joon they would call me either ‘Won Putt’ or ‘Two Joon’.”

Now in his fourth consecutive season in Japan, Lee is playing the Dunlop Phoenix Open for the third time having finished tied for 34th and tied for 16th in his previous two starts.

Given that he is currently 64th on the moneylist the invitation to play this week could be crucial for Bransdon who has three more events to play his way into the top 60 and keep his card for 2019.

It’s also an important week for the lone Kiwi in the field, Michael Hendry sitting just inside the cut-off mark in 58th position on the moneylist.