With The Open Championship just two weeks away several of Australasia’s European Tour regulars tee off at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with hopes of making the field at Royal Birkdale.

The top four finishers at Portstewart inside the top-10 and not otherwise qualified will book a place in The Open, Scott Hend the only one of the eight Australasians already assured a place in the year’s third Major.

Sam Brazel, Marcus Fraser, Andrew Dodt, Jason Scrivener, Wade Ormsby, Brett Rumford and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox will all be hoping to play their way to Birkdale at the third of the Tour’s Rolex Series tournaments.

Fox is the form player of the group coming off the best result of his European Tour career at last week’s HNA Open de France.

He cashed his biggest cheque at the US$7,000,000 event when T6, the tournament one of eight Rolex Series events on the schedule this season.

Boasting big purses and strong fields, the Rolex Series continues this week in Ireland and the in-form Fox could be one of the players to watch.

Like all the Australasians, though, Fox will need to be at his best as the Portstewart course in Northern Ireland plays host to the event for the first time.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama is the highest ranked player taking part, the World Number 2 joining tournament host and defending champion Rory McIlroy in a star studded line-up.

The Australian contingent will have their hands full if they are to grab one of the four Open spots on offer with several of Europe’s finest also in the field.

Five of the six hopefuls missed the cut last week in France, only Jason Scrivener playing the weekend on his way to a T38 result.

It’s been a struggle for most of the Australians in recent weeks with Sam Brazel missing three cuts in his last four starts, Marcus Fraser three in a row and Wade Ormsby four of his last five.

Andrew Dodt has struggled for form since finishing T6 at the BMW PGA Championship in late May while Brett Rumford has been inconsistent since the Tour returned to European soil six weeks ago.

However, this week’s venue should be to the liking of the Australians who will find the surrounds more familiar than many of their more highly fancied international competitors.

Portstewart is consistently rated among the 10 best courses in Ireland and 100 best in the world, the style of play required on the bouncy links not dissimilar to many of Australia’s tournament venues.