By Tony Webeck

A finish inside the top-15 at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will be enough for Jason Day to become just the second Australian to surpass $50 million in career earnings on the PGA TOUR.

Only 10 players in the Tour’s history have reached the $50 million mark with Day currently 11th with $49,835,755, Adam Scott currently seventh with $57,389,329 in career earnings. The milestone will be an afterthought to breaking a win drought stretching towards its fourth year but Day’s record in the event and his top-three finish last week makes it a very real possibility.

Whether it’s the scenic California coastline, the Pacific Ocean breeze that works its way into Monterey Bay or the memories of beating the world’s best juniors almost 20 years ago the West Coast swing brings out the best in the 34-year-old Queenslander.

Coming off his best finish since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Day arrives for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with one of the best records in golf at the iconic venue.

The withdrawal of last week’s runner-up Will Zalatoris due to a positive COVID-19 test sees Greg Chalmers take the Australian contingent across the two courses to eight, Min Woo Lee making his first appearance in the US for 2022.

It is Lee’s second start at Pebble Beach following a missed cut 12 months ago while for Day this week represents the chance to extend his impressive performances at Pebble.

Head of content at Twenty First Group and renowned golf statistician, Justin Ray, pointed out earlier this week the extent of Day’s Pebble Beach proficiency, one of only two players to finish inside the top-20 in each of the past six years.

Day’s more recent record is even more impressive given that he hasn’t finished worse than seventh in the past five years, including a runner-up finish in 2018.

But as he displayed last week at a venue where he has won twice before, Day’s affinity for California extends to other tournaments, finishing in the top-five in almost half of all the events he has contested in the state.

On top of striving for a first win in four years Day is now within reach of the $50 million in career earnings milestone, needing to bank $164,245 this week to become just the 11th player in PGA TOUR history and second Aussie to reach the mark.

Elsewhere this week Jason Scrivener and Maverick Antcliff have remained in the United Arab Emirates for the Ras al Khaimah Championship, the LPGA Tour stays in Florida for the inaugural Drive On Championship and 12 Aussies will tee it up in the PIF Saudi International.

In addition to attracting leading Aussies such as Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert the Saudi International will also see Australian PGA champion Jed Morgan and top-three finisher at Royal Queensland Louis Dobbelaar make their Asian Tour debuts. Round 1 tee times PGA TOUR AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California Pebble Beach 3.41am Greg Chalmers, Andrew Landry 4.25am Jason Day, Nick Taylor 5.31am John Senden, Scott Stallings Spyglass Hill 4.14am Aaron Baddeley, Johnson Wagner 4.47am Brett Drewitt, Dawie van der Walt 5.09am Cameron Percy, David Hearn 5.09am* Min Woo Lee, Kelly Kraft 5.20am* Matt Jones, Tyler Duncan Defending champion: Daniel Berger Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1965), Brett Ogle (1993) Top Aussie prediction: Matt Jones TV times: Live 7am-10am Friday, Saturday; Live 5am-10am Sunday; Live 5am-10.30am Monday on Fox Sports 503. DP World Tour Ras al Khaimah Championship Al Hamra GC, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE 2.50pm* Jason Scrivener, Joachim B. Hansen, Johannes Veerman 3.40pm Maverick Antcliff, Lucas Bjerregaard, Shaun Norris 3.50pm Ryan Fox, Chris Wood, Daan Huizing Defending champion: Inaugural event Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Maverick Antcliff TV times: Live 7.30pm-12.30am Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505. LPGA Tour LPGA Drive On Championship Crown Colony Golf and Country Club, Fort Myers, Florida 3.51am* Sarah Kemp, Bianca Pagdanganan, Brittany Lang 4.35am* Su Oh, Stacy Lewis, Moriya Jutanugarn 4.57am* Katherine Kirk, Paula Reto, Gerina Mendoza Defending champion: Inaugural event Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Su Oh TV times: Live 3am-6am Friday, Saturday; Live 3.30am-5am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505. Korn Ferry Tour Panama Championship Panama Golf Club, Panama City, Panama 11.43pm* Harrison Endycott, Kevin Yu, Corey Pereira 4.32am Rhein Gibson, Harry Hall, Ryan Brehm 5.14am* Nick Voke, John Augenstein, Martin Contini Defending champion: Davis Riley (2020) Past Aussie winners: Mathew Goggin (2011, 2015) Top Aussie prediction: Harrison Endycott Asian Tour PIF Saudi International Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, Saudi Arabia 3.20pm Louis Dobbelaar, Hongtaek Kim, Veer Ahlawat 3.50pm Scott Hend, James Hart Du Preez, Gavin Green 4.20pm Ryan Ruffels, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Todd Baek 4.20pm* Lucas Herbert, Victor Perez, Henrik Stenson 4.30pm Jediah Morgan, Shergo Al Kurdi, Jack Harrison 4.40pm* Travis Smyth, Pablo Larrazabal, Josh Hill (a) 7.40pm Andrew Dodt, Danny Masrin, Bjorn Hellgren 7.50pm Brad Kennedy, Shiv Kapur, Rafa Cabrera Bello 8pm Marc Leishman, Phil Mickelson, Abraham Ancer 8.10pm Cameron Smith, Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a), Joaquin Niemann 8.30pm* Daniel Hillier, Suradit Yongcharoenchai, Trevor Simsby 8.40pm* Ben Eccles, Prom Meesawat, Naoki Sekito 8.50pm Wade Ormsby, Takumi Kanaya, Thomas Pieters Defending champion: Dustin Johnson Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Marc Leishman TV times: Live 7pm-9pm, 10.30pm-12.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 7.30pm-1am Saturday; Live 8.30pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.