Australian Invasion

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After 54 holes at the Memorial Australia's Rod Pampling leads the pack by 3 shots. Lurking behind Rod are two other Australians, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley. I just did an extremely scientific review of the current world rankings and it appears Pampling is ranked 37th. There are six other Australians ranked ahead of him. So what gives with all these Aussies?

Many credit Greg Norman as the inspiration for the current wave of good young Australian players. For those of you that remember, Norman was a dashing, go-for-broke Australian golfer who was probably the most talented golfer in between Jack Nicklaus and Tiger, but won only a couple majors. Cashing in on his flashy image he managed to develop a line of clothing and, by sheer force of will, made a ridiculous looking hat ridiculously popular.

So what can we look forward to with this crop of Australian golfers? It's hard to say for sure, but it seems that they're already heading down the same underachieving path Norman took. As I said earlier, there are seven Australians ranked in the top 37 of the world rankings yet that group has only one major to their credit, Geoff Ogilvy's US Open last year. During today's Memorial telecast Nick Faldo suggested that Ogilvy's win might have kicked the door in for the entire group. We'll have to wait and see if Adam Scott and company can now walk through it.

Regardless of whether any of the Australians can start cashing in at the big events, I do predict that one or more of them will soon popularize a silly looking hat or some other accessory. I'm just not yet sure whether it will be the Aaron Baddeley Sombrero, the Nick O'Hern Top Hat, or the Rod Pampling Fanny Pack.

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Australian Invasion

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