By Tony Webeck

Australian PGA champion Jed Morgan will make his PGA TOUR debut this week, joining a new wave of generational talent that Jack Nicklaus says is the greatest the game has ever seen.

Morgan and fellow Aussie Min Woo Lee are two of four players in the field for the Memorial Tournament this week invited due to their position on the money list of international tours, Morgan’s victory at Royal Queensland in January effectively clinching the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

The 22-year-old has just one top-10 finish to his name since but is about to embark on an exciting phase in his career that will encompass a PGA TOUR debut, starts at the US Open and The Open Championship before becoming a member of the DP World Tour, all coming about due to his Order of Merit win.

As the international influence spread throughout both the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour has continued, Nicklaus believes it has led to an increase in field depth that golf’s greatest major champion never faced in his career.

“It’s not just the US Tour anymore. This is a world tour,” said Nicklaus, the host at Muirfield Village this week.

“This world tour has guys coming from everywhere in the world that are the best players from everywhere in the world that are now making their living and living in the United States.

“They’re good. They’re really good.

“Right now, I think we have more good players in the game of golf on the PGA TOUR than we have ever had in the history of the game, and I think it’s wonderful.”

Morgan is one of 10 Aussies teeing it up at Memorial including West Australian Curtis Luck, who has a place in the field by virtue of a sponsor’s invitation.

All told this week there are 63 Australians in action across the major world tours including five contesting the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles and a whopping 24 at the Asian Tour’s International Series event in England.

Coming off a week at the Dutch Open where he was tied for third heading into the final round, 10-time Asian Tour winner Scott Hend is eager to put a string of health problems behind him and continue his upward trajectory.

“It’s nice to turn the corner last week, and hopefully start to put some results together,” said Hend, who fought through fatigue last week after contracting COVID-19 and had prostate surgery late last year.

“It’s been really tough times and I have worked really hard to get back. Certain things became a little bit more important than others. From an outsider looking in you just think it is just someone playing bad golf but there is a lot more to it. Golf is a massive part of my life but so is living!

“I want to start playing well again, I want to start winning again, I want to improve my world ranking, I want to compete against all these guys again and show them I can still play,” said the Australian.

“I want to finish my career with as many wins as I can. That’s why I am out here, to play and win trophies. I like to think I can be competitive this week and be up there on Sunday.”

Round 1 tee times AEST

PGA TOUR The Memorial Tournament Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio 9pm      Danny Lee, Jhonattan Vegas, Patrick Rodgers 9.36pm*             Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka 9.48pm*             Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer 10pm    Marc Leishman, KH Lee, Seamus Power 10.12pm*           Lucas Herbert, Jason Day, Will Zalatoris 10.36pm             Matt Jones, Ryan Brehm, Cameron Champ 10.48pm*           Min Woo Lee, Bo Hoag, James Piot 2.48am*             Cam Davis, Ryan Palmer, Adam Long 3.48am Curtis Luck, David Lipsky, Justin Lower 3.48am*             Jediah Morgan, Kurt Kitayama, Brandon Wu

Defending champion: Patrick Cantlay Past Aussie winners: David Graham (1980), Greg Norman (1990, 1995) Top Aussie prediction: Adam Scott TV times: Live 4am-8am Friday; Live 4am-10am Saturday; Live 2.30am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503

US Women’s Open Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, North Carolina 9.22pm*             Sarah Kemp, Emma McMyler (a), Dottie Ardina 9.37pm Grace Kim, Minsol Kim (a), Catherine Park (a) 10.28pm*           Minjee Lee, Nasa Hataoka, Brooke Henderson 11.05pm             Hannah Green, Jessica Korda, Lydia Ko 2.56am Gabriela Ruffels, Laney Frye (a), Cheyenne Knight

Defending champion: Yuka Saso Past Aussie winners: Jan Stephenson (1983), Karrie Webb (2000, 2001) Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green TV times: Live 2am-10am Friday, Saturday; Live 2.30am-8am Sunday; Live 3am-9am Monday on Fox Sports 505

DP World Tour Porsche European Open Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany 10pm*  Maverick Antcliff, Matthieu Pavon, Kiradech Aphibarnrat 10.20pm             Jason Scrivener, Marcel Schneider, Jorge Campillo 11.30pm             Zach Murray, Jack Singh Barr, Alexander Knappe

Defending champion: Marcus Armitage Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1981), Greg Norman (1986), Peter Senior (1990), Mike Harwood (1991) Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener TV times: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday; Live 9.30pm-2am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503

Asian Tour International Series England Slaley Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort, England 3.40pm*             Blake Windred, Chan Shih-chang, Nitithorn Thippong 3.56pm Ben Eccles, Saleh Ali Al Kaabi (a), Mitchell Slorach 4.02pm*             Scott Hend, Sihwan Kim, Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a) 4.07pm Sam Brazel, Lee Slattery, Jyoti Randhawa 4.13pm*             Andrew Dodt, Trevor Simsby, Paul Peterson 4.18pm Louis Dobbelaar, Donlaphatchai Niyomchon, Sam Gillis 4.29pm Ben Campbell, Danny Masrin, Viraj Madappa 4.40pm Andrew Martin, Ben Leong, Tirawat Kaewsiribandit 4.46pm*             Todd Sinnott, Settee Prakongvech, Ajeetesh Sandhu 4.57pm*             Travis Smyth, Prom Meesawat, Berry Henson 5.02pm Daniel Fox, Kasidit Lepkurte, Veer Ahlawat 5.13pm Josh Younger, Hung Chien-yao, Mardan Mamat 5.30pm*             Dimitrios Papadatos, Alfie Plant, Shergo Al Kurdi 5.35pm David Gleeson, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Choo Tze Huang 8.40pm Michael Campbell, Wade Ormsby, Phachara Khongwatmai 8.56pm*             Hayden Hopewell (a), Woohyun Kim, Aadil Bedi 9.51pm*             Jake Higginbottom, OJ Farrell, Chang Wei-lun 10.02pm*             Scott Strange, Sarit Suwannarut, Dodge Kemmer 10.08pm             Cory Crawford, Christoffer Baumann, Koh Deng Shan 10.19pm             Will Heffernan, Jack Thompson, Ben Jones 10.30pm             Denzel Ieremia, Danthai Boonma, SSP Chawrasia 10.41pm             Kevin Yuan, Jamie Rutherford, Natipong Srithong 10.46pm*           Tim Stewart, Jeev Milkha Singh, Stuart Manley

Defending champion: Inaugural event Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Scott Hend TV times: Live 10pm-2am Thursday, Friday; Live 9pm-1am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505

Japan Golf Tour BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills Country Club (West Cse), Ibaraki 9.04am Adam Bland, Shintaro Kobayashi, Thanyakon Khrongpa 9.14am Brad Kennedy, Kantaro Naito, Tatsuya Kodai 9.54am Brendan Jones, Yukazu Kosaihei, Justin De Los Santos 11.08am             Andrew Evans, Hiroshi Iwata, Yoshitaka Takeya 12.02pm             Anthony Quayle, Hiroyo Ikemura, Daihei Sato 1.02pm Matthew Griffin, Taichi Teshima, Yuuki Takeuchi 1.12pm Dylan Perry, Hiroyuki Fujita, Han Lee 1.26pm Michael Hendry, Daijiro Izumida, Naoto Nakanishi 1.36pm David Bransdon, Takanori Konishi

Defending champion: Ryosuke Kinoshita Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Brad Kennedy

Korn Ferry Tour REX Hospital Open The CC at Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh, North Carolina 9.16pm Rhein Gibson, Brad Hopfinger, Ryan McCormick 2.41am Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Dougherty, Stuart Macdonald 2.41am*             Cameron Percy, Robby Shelton, Sam Saunders 3.02am*             Harrison Endycott, Carl Yuan, Braden Thornberry 3.34am Nick Voke, Sam Stevens, MJ Maguire 3.34am*             Ryan Ruffels, Mark Anguiano, Tee-K Kelly

Defending champion: Mito Pereira (2020) Past Aussie winners: Mark Hensby (2000) Top Aussie prediction: Aaron Baddeley

Challenge Tour D+D REAL Czech Challenge Golf & Spa Kunětická Hora, Dříteč, Czech Republic 5.30pm Daniel Hillier, Kristof Ulenaers, Tristen Strydom 6pm      Deyen Lawson, Victor Garcia Broto, Michael Hirmer 6pm*    Jarryd Felton, Martin Simonsen, Martin WiegeleDefending champion: Santiago Tarrio Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Jarryd Felton

PGA TOUR Canada Royal Beach Victoria Open Uplands GC, Victoria, British Columbia 5.50am*             Cameron John, Saptak Talwar, Jake Scott 6.40am Will Barnett, Callum Davison, Kieran Vincent 6.40am*             Danny List, Wocheng Ye, John DuthieDefending champion: Paul Barjon (2019) Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Cameron John

Ladies European Tour Ladies Italian Open Golf Club Margara, Fubine, Italy 4.41pm Kristalle Blum, Romy Meekers, Carolin KauffmannDefending champion: Lucie Malchirand Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1991, 1994), Denise Booker (1995) Top Aussie prediction: Kristalle Blum

Champions Tour Principal Charity Classic Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa 1am      Stuart Appleby, Marco Dawson, Paul Stankowski 1.10am*             John Senden, Steve Jones, John Huston 1.40am*             Stephen Leaney, John Daly, Tom Lehman 2.20am Steven Alker, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ernie Els 2.30am*             Rod Pampling, Tom Pernice Jr, Dicky Pride 2.40am*             David McKenzie, Mark Walker, Thongchai Jaidee

Defending champion: Stephen Ames (2020) Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Stuart Appleby TV times: 10.30am-12.30pm Saturday; 4.30pm-6pm Sunday; 10.30am-12.30pm Monday on Fox Sports 503