“We know what we’re in for.”

That’s the message from Jason Day’s coach Colin Swatton as the world’s best golfers prepare for one of the game’s fiercest tests when the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York hosts the US PGA Championship this week.

Iconic architect AW Tillinghast made no apologies for the strength of the test that he created in 1936, describing it variously as a “sabre tooth tiger” and a “man killer”.

That infamy compelled golfers of all abilities to submit themselves to 18 holes of perverse punishment and following the 2002 renovation by Rees Jones sleep in their cars overnight for the privilege.

Bethpage Black last hosted a tournament of note in 2016 when the first week of the FedEx Cup playoffs came to New York’s most famous muny, a week in which Day and Adam Scott both finished tied for fourth at The Barclays at 7-under par.

Day also played the 2012 Barclays at Bethpage and would have finished much higher than tied for 24th if not for an uncharacteristic third round of 6-over 77.

It is that history – and the positive memories that he can draw on – that makes Swatton believe Day is well positioned to contend for a second PGA Championship title.

“The good thing is that Jase has played that course a number of times in larger events, FedEx Cup events and things like that,” Swatton told pga.org.au.

“He’s been there when the course has presented its teeth so we know what we’re in for leading into it and we already have track history.

“We have data on when he has played there in the past so we’re able to extract that data and say, these are the holes that have pushed your button in the past, these are the holes you’ve played well in the past, this is what we think’s going to win, how do we best manage our best plan moving forward in order to create that.

“I think we’ll do pretty well.”

One of eight Australians to have qualified to play in the year’s second major along with Kiwis Ryan Fox and Danny Lee, Day comes in after his best greens in regulation performance at Augusta National where he was tied for fifth.

Bethpage Black boasts some of the most difficult approach shots to elevated greens that the players will see all year but Swatton says Day’s reputation as a poor iron player is over-stated.

“I don’t necessarily think he’s that bad as an iron player,” Swatton said.

“I think there are times when Jase becomes a little bit too aggressive and potentially fires at pins that don’t necessarily need to be fired at.

“That’s why sometimes his GIR stats from an iron play aren’t as good as they need to be.

“Augusta National was his best ever GIR. He hit 51 greens out of 72 for the week, Tiger Woods hit 58 for the week. Our goal was to hit more than 51 which we did, but when you run into a buzzsaw, you run into the best player of all time, you don’t get it done for the week.”

Swatton and Day spent time last week together applying the finishing touches to his swing so that upon their arrival to New York they can get straight down to the business of reacquainting themselves with the golf course.

“Once we get to Bethpage it’s about prepping for the tournament,” explained Swatton, who will be a guest speaker at the 2019 PGA Golf Expo on the Gold Coast in September.

“It’s about becoming familiar with the course again, which holes to hit driver, which holes to hit 3-wood, where do we want to leave the ball on the green for the best putt.

“It’s more about the actual game-plan than getting in the right positions in terms of the technical aspect of his swing.”

Sydney’s Matt Jones has made a significant move in the FedEx Cup standings on the back of a top-five finish at the AT&T Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas.

A third round of 6-under 65 had Jones inside the top five with a round to play but a six-shot deficit from leader Sung Kang was too much to make up, Jones firing a 4-under 67 as Kang recorded a two-shot win from Matt Every and Scott Piercy.

With two top-15 finishes this season Jones started the Byron Nelson in 111th position on the FedEx Cup, his best finish since the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2015 propelling him up to 89th.

Given he was forced to play in the Web.com Tour playoff series in order to keep his card for this year, the result provides Jones with something of a buffer as the TOUR heads into the meaty section of the season.

Although Jones was the only Australian to finish inside the top-30 Cameron Davis completed a solid week with a Sunday 68 that moved him up 14 places into a tie for 35th, fellow PGA TOUR rookie Curtis Luck a further shot back in a tie for 43rd.

Dominance off the tee and a fondness for the greens at Corales Golf Club has Matt Jones poised to continue his run of recent good form and chase a second PGA TOUR win at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.

It’s been five years and 120 starts since Jones recorded his one and only win on the PGA TOUR at the 2014 Shell Houston Open but two top-15 finishes in his past five starts and five straight made cuts makes him a genuine threat this week.

Tied for 28th in the inaugural event 12 months ago, Jones ranked fifth for putts per green in regulation. Given he is ranked 27th on tour for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, a good ball-striking week at the picturesque layout that sits alongside the Caribbean Sea should put him right in contention come Sunday.

Other Australians in the field this week are veterans Robert Allenby and John Senden, the in-form Aaron Baddeley and PGA TOUR rookies Curtis Luck and Cameron Davis.

Playing with limited status this year, Baddeley is currently 68th in the FedEx Cup standings courtesy of two top-five finishes and two further top-20 results from 10 starts.

Luck is coming off his best result of the year – a tie for 13th at last week’s Valspar Championship – while Davis sits just outside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup in 126th position courtesy of two top-20 finishes this year, the most recent coming at the Puerto Rico Open a month ago.

There are five Australians taking part in the Web.com Tour’s Savannah Golf Championship in Georgia this week with Cameron Percy and Rhein Gibson currently sitting inside the top 25 on the order of merit.

Percy was tied for 22nd in the inaugural Savannah Golf Championship last year and comes into this week riding the momentum of a final round 7-under at last week’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

Jamie Arnold will also start the tournament in a good headspace having also finished tied for 22nd last year and having recorded his best finish of the year to date a week ago, a tie for 13th in Louisiana.

Other Aussies in the field this week are Brett Coletta and Brett Drewitt while the Kiwis will be represented by Tim Wilkinson, Nick Voke and Steven Alker.

The short holes proved to give Matt Jones the greatest amount of grief as a PGA TOUR top-10 finish slipped through his fingers at The Honda Classic at PGA National on Sunday.

Tied for 12th entering the final round and in position to record his best result of the year, Jones missed a putt from inside eight feet to make bogey at the par-3 fifth and then made double bogey at the par-3 seventh after leaving his second shot in the front left bunker.

Birdies at 10 and 11 helped to right the ship somewhat for the Sutherland Shire native and after navigating the first two legs of the infamous ‘Bear Trap’ in even par, made bogey at the par-3 17th to post 1-over for the week and tied for 36th.

While Jones was heading south on Sunday New Zealand’s Danny Lee was trending in the opposite direction, bouncing back from a third round of 75 to shoot even par 70 and move up 15 spots into a tie for 36th, tied with Jones.

In a week where Adam Scott and Cameron Smith both failed to qualify for the weekend Cameron Davis was the only other Australian to make the cut, dropping 20 places in the final round with a 3-over 73 made up of one birdie, two bogeys and a double at the par-4 11th after hitting his approach shot into the water.

T36        Matt Jones          69-69-69-74—281            $US25,345

T36        Danny Lee           69-67-75-70—281            $25,345

T59        Cameron Davis   70-72-68-73—283            $14,620

MC         Adam Scott         72-71—143

MC         Cameron Smith  68-79—147

MC         Curtis Luck          74-76—150

MC         Rod Pampling     77-76—153

Forty-nine years and counting.

That’s the history that is running against the six Australians who are lining up in the PGA TOUR’s Desert Classic at La Quinta in California this week.

The tournament is celebrating its 60th staging in 2019 and it has been 49 years since Bruce Devlin was the first – and to date, only – Australian to triumph in the Coachella Valley, winning the Bob Hope Desert Classic at Eldorado Country Club by four strokes ahead of American Larry Ziegler.

The Stadium Course designed by Pete Dye at PGA West is the designated host course with the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club also to help determine who survives the 54-hole cut.

It shapes as a cut of great importance for a number of the Aussies in the field as they look to firm up their 2019 schedule.

Having come through the Web.com Tour finals to earn a PGA TOUR card, Matt Jones, Cameron Davis and Curtis Luck all need some strong showings to improve their position prior to the first re-rank.

A tie for 29th at last week’s Sony Open is Jones’ best result in six starts this season and he has a decent record in this event, his highest finish a tie for eighth when it was still the five-round Bob Hope Classic in 2010.

Luck has endured a difficult start to his first year as a PGA TOUR member with just one cut made from five events to date, withdrawing from the Sony Open on the Monday, while Davis currently sits 107th in the FedEx Cup thanks largely to his tie for 17th in the opening tournament of the season.

There is plenty at stake for a couple of veterans also with both Aaron Baddeley and John Senden playing with limited status in 2019.

Unable to finish inside the top 125 on the moneylist in 2018, Baddeley has the opportunity to take advantage of the larger 156-man field and make his fourth start of the season.

A tie for fourth after Monday qualifying at the Safeway Open earned the four-time PGA TOUR winner a place in the field at the Sanderson Farms Championship before he finished tied for 59th at the RSM Classic.

Senden is playing on a major medical crisis extension due to son Jacob’s battle with a brain tumour and has just four more events in which to earn 280 FedEx Cup points and maintain status for the remainder of the year.

Although his recent record at La Quinta is not great, Senden was tied for sixth in 2012.

Thanks to his win at the 2017 Shriners Hospital for Children Open there is somewhat less pressure on Rod Pampling.

Due to turn 50 in September this year, Pampling made the cut in both PGA TOUR tournaments he played at the end of 2018 along with the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship.

Like most Aussies, it’s been a struggle for Pampling in the California desert, not finishing better than a tie for 42nd since he was tied for ninth in 2004.