It’s been a rough start to 2018 for New Zealand’s Danny Lee but he will be hoping for a repeat of 2017 when he tees up at this week’s Valspar Championship in Florida.

Entering this tournament last year the 27-year-old had four missed cuts and one withdrawal on his record and his resume reads remarkably similar this year.

However, he turned things around at Innisbrook’s Copper Head course with a T22 result 12 months ago, a finish that sparked a good run of form for him and would be welcome again in 2018.

Lee, one of seven Australasians in this week’s field, has shown a liking for this event in the past having finished T7 in 2015 and recording eight of his 13 rounds there under par.

Also teeing up this week are Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Rod Pampling and Cameron Smith.

None boast a particularly impressive record at Innisbrook though, Chalmers’ T4 finish in 2013 the best of any of them in the last decade.

The left-hander has had a less than stellar season to this point though produced some of his best golf of the year two weeks ago at the Honda Classic where he was T17.

A final round 67 at the difficult PGA National course suggests there are good things happening in his game and another difficult test awaits this week at Innisbrook.

Adam Scott, too, will take heart from his weekend at the Honda where a poor start saw him make the cut on the number before climbing the leaderboard at the weekend.

At 37 the Queenslander has made no secret of the fact it is the majors he covets most and with the Masters just four weeks away he will be aiming to sharpen his game further at another challenging course this week.

Also motivated by the Masters this week is Cameron Smith whose World Ranking of 52 has him on the cusp of an invite to Augusta National.

After a T6 last start at the Genesis Open his good 2018 form continues and fresh from a three week break he will be determined to play his way into the year’s first major.

Of the rest, Geoff Ogilvy is in need of a good result after a string of four consecutive missed cuts while Rod Pampling has played just one weekend this year.

Aaron Baddeley has been solid recently and would like nothing more than to make the cut for the first time in three years at this event.