It was one of the most memorable victories of the past year, Rod Pampling’s long birdie bomb on the 18th hole at TPC Summerlin to defeat now U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka etched in the memory banks of all Australian golf fans.

At the age of 47 and 10 years removed from his last PGA TOUR title, capturing the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open was as unexpected as it was emotional for one of Australia’s most popular players and the likeable Queenslander will no doubt enjoy every minute of the coming week in Las Vegas.

In a game that increasingly rewards youth and power over cunning and precision, Pampling’s success was inspirational for many and while logic and statistics say a repeat is unlikely the situation is no different to last year.

One of five Australians to take his place in the field this week, Pampling will have no shortage of good memories to draw on as he prepares to defend his first PGA TOUR title in a decade.

He has been at less than his best in the two Asian swing events he has played in the last three weeks but will get a boost in confidence being back at the scene of such a memorable success.

He will be joined in the field by Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy and Greg Chalmers with Cameron Percy and former champion Stuart Appleby both on the alternates list.

Ogilvy has the best recent record of the group at this venue courtesy of a T4 finish here last year.

Having regained his card in a tense finish to the 2017 season, the 2006 U.S. Open winner will begin his 2018 quest with a sense of satisfaction and self-belief, another good performance this week seemingly likely.

Jones, too, did his confidence the world of good with a late charge at the Web.com finals seeing him back to full time membership of the main Tour.

However, as a graduate his status is not as high as those who finish top-125 in the FedEx Cup and he knows the urgency of good early season play ahead of the various exemption category re-ranks.

He missed the cut last week in his second start of the season but will have some good memories of his play at this venue last year when he broke 70 all four days and finished T15.

Aaron Baddeley also has one missed cut and one made cut to start his 2018 campaign but has a mixed bag of results at TPC Summerlin.

A T8 in 2010 has been his best finish in what is generally a low scoring event though his only missed cut in five starts came last year.

Greg Chalmers rounds out the Australian challenge and like both Jones and Baddeley has missed one cut in two starts to kick off his season.

His play at both the Safeway Open and last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship was far from his best though he is somewhat comfortable at TPC Summerlin where he has missed the weekend only three times in 12 appearances.