Cameron Percy will be looking to turn the
clock back 12 months when he tees up Thursday at the Valero Texas Open.

The 41-year-old’s opening round at TPC San
Antonio last year was one of the best of 2015, an even par 72 in conditions so
brutal that 23 players on his side of the draw failed to break 80.

Only seven time PGA TOUR winner Matt Kuchar
matched Percy’s effort on day one in 2015, one of the more bizarre opening
rounds in recent memory.

After the morning wave of players were all
but blown off the course, the afternoon field faced relatively benign
conditions allowing several players to shoot under par.

A change in date for the tournament will
hopefully ensure there is no repeat of those conditions as 11 Australians line
up to compete for one of the longest running titles on the PGA TOUR.

Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron
Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Rhein Gibson, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling,
Ryan Ruffels and John Senden join Percy in Texas at a tournament which has seen
Australian success in the past.

Steven Bowditch claimed his maiden PGA TOUR
title at this tournament in 2014, though is not playing this week, while
Australia’s first Texas Open winner dates back to 1924 when Joe Kirkwood took
home the trophy.

It’s an important week for several
Australians who have been struggling this year, Rhein Gibson, Greg Chalmers,
Percy and Pampling chief among them.

All are well down the pecking order in
terms of gaining tournament starts and all have struggled to build momentum in
the first half of the season.

Chalmers has played just four times and
missed three cuts while Percy has played one more for a best of T15 and two
missed weekends.

Gibson has managed to play more events but
his form has been less than his best in his rookie season on the main tour. In
11 tournaments he has made just four cuts with a best finish of T52 at the
recent Shell Houston Open.

Pampling, who joined Gibson in graduating
from the Web.com Tour in 2015, has also struggled to find top form this year
though his best finish in six starts so far came at his most recent outing with
a T26 at the Puerto Rico Open.

All have the chance to turn their years
around with some good play this week as do Tour veterans Robert Allenby, Geoff
Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby.

Appleby is playing on a medical extension
after back surgery last year and with 10 events remaining in that category he
needs to earn a little over $475,000 to ensure his card for next season.

While he has missed as many cuts as he has
made in his 10 events to date there have been flashes of form in his game but
consistency has been an issue.

Coming off a 69-79 effort at Hilton Head
last week to miss the cut, Appleby will be looking to improve on his previous
best at this venue, a T46 in 2013.

Geoff Ogilvy, too, needs to lift after a tough
start to his 2016 season though making the cut at last week’s RBC Heritage will
have given his confidence a boost.

It was just the second time this season the
2006 US Open winner has played the weekend and with a decent record at TPC San
Antonio could get his year back on track this week.

Ogilvy was one of the victims of last
year’s Thursday morning winds but in two other appearances at this venue has
finished T11 ad T23.

Of the remaining Australians in the field
Aaron Baddeley and rookie Ryan Ruffels will be ones to watch, Baddeley coming
off his fourth top-10 of the year in Hilton Head last week while Ruffels is on
the verge of playing some good golf.

A run of poor holes on the opening day
ruined his chances of making the cut last week despite a gutsy fight back on
day two and one or two bad holes have ruined his scorecard on several occasions
this year.

There’s no doubt the 17-year-old has the
talent to play at the highest level and a solid performance this week would do wonders
for his confidence.

John Senden and Matt Jones round out the
Australian challenge, Senden looking to pick up where he left off in Sunday’s
final round last week.

The Queenslander posted the best score of
the tournament on the last day at Harbour Town, a 6-under 65 that will give him
plenty of confidence heading into this week.