By Tony Webeck

Veteran Aaron Baddeley will make his 478th start on the PGA TOUR after coming through a playoff at Monday qualifying for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Although fellow Victorian Lucas Herbert has not returned to defend the title he won in wild weather 12 months ago, the addition of Baddeley takes the Aussie contingent to four alongside Greg Chalmers, Cameron Percy and Harrison Endycott. Now 41 years of age, Baddeley is a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR but only has access to starts via the Past Champion category. He went through Monday qualifying on his way to a tie for 36th at the Fortinet Championship last month and for the second time this season has played his way into the field. The two-time Australian Open champion made three birdies and an eagle against no bogeys to earn a spot in the six-for-two playoff in the Bermuda qualifier and securing one of the four spots on offer. Last season Baddeley split his time between the PGA TOUR (13 starts) and the Korn Ferry Tour (11 starts) and will enter 2023 fully exempt for the Korn Ferry Tour. There are only four tournaments where Aussies are in action this week with six ramping up their runs into the back-end of the Japan Golf Tour season. Matthew Griffin returns to tour play following the birth of his second son, Max, while Andrew Evans brings winning form after a win at the Coca-Cola Shelly Beach Pro-Am on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series last week. There are only five events left in the Japan season after this week’s HEIWA PGM Championship with Brad Kennedy the best placed on the Order of Merit. The Gold Coast veteran is 17th courtesy of a highly consistent season closely followed by Anthony Quayle (24th), Adam Bland (63rd), Evans (87th) and Griffin (94th). There are three Australians teeing it up at the DP World Tour’s Portugal Masters and five Aussies will take part in the final event of the 2022 LIV Golf season. Round 1 tee times AEDT PGA TOUR

Butterfield Bermuda Championship Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda 10.02pm Greg Chalmers, Ryan Armour, Chris Stroud 10.46pm Cameron Percy, Bill Haas, Kramer Hickok 2.37am Aaron Baddeley, Ben Crane, Chesson Hadley 3.26am* Harrison Endycott, Matti Schmid, John VanDerLaan Defending champion: Lucas Herbert Past Aussie winners: Lucas Herbert (2021) Top Aussie prediction: Aaron Baddeley TV times: Live 4.30am-7.35am Friday, Saturday; Live 4.30am-7.30am Sunday; Live 4.30am-7.35am Monday on Fox Sports 505. DP World Tour

Portugal Masters Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal 6.40pm Maverick Antcliff, Matthew Southgate, Nino Bertasio 7pm* Jason Scrivener, Paul Waring, Daan Huizing 10.40pm* Scott Hend, Ross McGowan, Kristoffer Broberg Defending champion: Thomas Pieters Past Aussie winners: Richard Green (2010) Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener TV times: 11pm-4am Thursday, Friday; Live 11.30pm-4am Saturday; Live 11pm-3.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 505. Japan Golf Tour

HEIWA PGM Championship PGM Ishioka Golf Club, Ibaraki 10.20am* Brad Kennedy, Thanyakon Khrongpha, Naoto Nakanishi 10.40am* Dylan Perry, Higashi Yano, Komei Oda 11am* Anthony Quayle, Shugo Imahira, Mirai Horikawa 11.40am* Brendan Jones, Tomohiro Ishizaka, Tomoyasu Sugiyama 12.10pm Matthew Griffin, Shota Akiyoshi, Yuta Kinoshita 12.10pm* Michael Hendry (NZ), Toshiya Takeyasu, Yoshikazu Shiro 12.20pm Andrew Evans, Daisuke Yasumoto, Masafumi Hidaka Defending champion: Hosung Choi Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Brad Kennedy LIV Golf

Miami Team Championship Trump National Doral Golf Club, Miami, Florida Aussies in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Wade Ormsby, Jediah Morgan