A 16 strong contingent of Australians will converge on the Web.com Tour’s first tournament to be played on US soil this season when the Louisiana Open tees off on Thursday.

After fiver weeks in South America the Tour begins its mainland US swing at one of the oldest events on the Tour, the tournament dating back to 1992.

In its 23 year history only one Australian has won the Louisiana event, Gavin Coles in 2008, but with such a big presence, and some in form players, that may change this year.

Web.com Tour rookies Brett Drewitt and Oliver Goss have been standouts in recent weeks, Drewitt in posting his best finish of T5 last week while Goss has posted some impressive rounds in his five starts.

Drewitt earned his way to the secondary US Tour via a third place finish on the money list at last year’s inaugural PGA TOUR China and is finding his feet nicely in America.

In five starts he has missed just one cut and last week’s performance will have given him some confidence for the rest of the season.

The 24-year-old posted a win and five other top 10 finishes in his 12 starts in China, an experience that will hold him in good stead on the more competitive American circuit.

Goss is a huge talent who won as an amateur on the PGA Tour of Australasia and was low amateur at the 2014 US Masters.

Though he struggles with consistency at times he is capable of shooting very low numbers and a year on the ultra competitive Web.com Tour will be invaluable in the long term.

Both Goss and Drewitt have been rewarded for their god play by improving their tournament eligibility ranking in the Web.com Tour’s first reshuffle of the season announced early today.

Others to watch this week are Mathew Goggin, who won the first tournament of the season, and Steve Allan who is high on the money list despite missing the cut last week in Chile.

Joining the Web.com Tour regulars at the Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club are Greg Chalmers and Cameron Percy who both missed out on starts at the Texas Open on the PGA TOUR.

Chalmers finished T7 the last time he teed up at the Louisiana Open though that was in 2007 when he last played the Web.com Tour full time.

Percy’s record is less impressive having played the tournament twice and failed to make the cut on both occasions.

The other Australians playing this week are: Adam Crawford, Nick Flanagan, Scott Gardiner, Rhein Gibson, Ash Hall, Bryden Macpherson, James Nitties, Rod Pampling, Alistair Presnell and Aron Price.

Flanagan takes his place in the field on a medical extension after thumb surgery last year and will be looking to make his first cut since teeing up for the first time three weeks ago.

While he hasn’t had a great track record at the tournament (T26 his best finish in six appearances) if he can make the weekend it would be a boost to his confidence after such a lengthy break from the game.