Team Australia has got down to business at the ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf with Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith finalising their strategy for the week.

Combining to represent Australia for the first time, Leishman and Smith enter as strong contenders to win the title on home soil.

“It’s the second time I’ve done it.  Obviously last World Cup in 2016 we (partnered with Adam Scott) had a lot of fun,” said Leishman.

“It wasn’t the result we were after, but it’s nice to be back here in Melbourne and representing our country.  Hopefully, we can play well and do everyone proud.”

While Smith, who makes his World Cup debut added, “It’s a great location, great golf course.  We’ve been out and played all 18 now, so the course is in amazing condition and I think it should be a good week for everyone.”

Itching to get out on course, Leishman and Smith played nine holes on Monday afternoon and were back at work early this morning.

Having reacquainted themselves with the Metropolitan layout, the duo believes they have crafted a strong strategy to ensure victory on Sunday afternoon.

“After about seven or eight holes yesterday, it was pretty clear which holes I wanted to tee off and which holes I knew that went left to right, right to left.  It was a pretty easy decision,” said Leishman.

“I think the holes are going to set up pretty well for us.  We still have to play very well, hit good shots, but we’re not going to be able to blame uncomfortable tee shots or anything.”

Giving Team Australia some inside knowledge on his home club was Victorian amateur David Micheluzzi who finished tied fifth and low amateur at the Emirates Australian Open last week.

“It’s great of him (Micheluzzi) to come out.  Obviously he’s a great player and played very well last week,” said Leishman.

“There’s a few holes that look a lot narrower off the tee than what they actually are and shots into the greens that look very narrow just because of the positioning of bunkers, and then when you get up there they’re really wide.

“He helped us with that, just showing us where’s fine, where’s not fine.  Yeah, it was good of him to come out and hopefully that will pay off at the end of the week.”

With Smith, who is just three years Micheluzzi’s senior, adding; “He kind of kept out of the way, but kind of gave his information.  It was actually quite helpful.

“A couple of those tee shots and hitting them into trees and knowing where to land them, it was pretty good.”

Team Australia will be hoping to get off to a strong start in the four ball, when they are paired with Team USA and tee off at 11.35am on Thursday.