After working until midnight I awake to a positively filthy freezing wet snowy/rainy Wednesday morning in Toronto, so fortified by a steaming mug of tea and a toasted bacon sandwich my thoughts turn to the sandy beaches of Perth and the Gold Coast of Australia, Palm Beach Gardens down in Florida and the Siam CC in Chonburi Thailand, the destinations where all the pros have flown to for this weekend's golf.
PGA Tour
Honda Classic on The Champion at PGA National Resort
Palm Beach Gardens
Tee times/pairings http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/the-honda-classic.html
Last year Paddy Harrington beat rookie Daniel Berger in a Monday playoff after a rainy weekend. This year Rory who won here in 2012 is in the field with Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott as the headliners..
They played the Ryder Cup here away back in 1983, and this begins a four week swing through Florida with stops at Doral for the WGC Cadillac (Trump's new toy), the Valspar at Innisbrook then Arnie's place at Bay Hill.
Mike Weir has an invite and will be joined by David Hearn, Adam Hadwin and Graham DeLaet as the Canadian contingent.
European Tour
ISPS Handa Perth International at Lake Karrinyup CC
Perth Australia
Tee times/pairings http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016014/teetimes/index.html#ZlDJDd8R1WxfwU43.97
Even the hard bitten Aussie's comment on the beautiful beach that borders this most westerly of Australian cities, just another reason to make the long trip to this famous event sanctioned by three tours.
He's carrying a flu bug, the Norwegian star Thorbjorn Olesen is here to defend his title that he won last year over Frenchman Victor Dubuisson who is sporting a new set of clubs this week.
Louis Oosthuizen is the top ranked player over a whack of Aussies including Marcus Fraser who won last weekend in Malayasia and is glad to be home for 3 weeks.
Ernie Els obliterated this course in 2003 with the lowest score to par in European Tour history -29 259.
LPGA Tour
Honda LPGA Thailand, Siam CC, Pattaya Old Course
Chonburi, Thailand
Tee times/pairings http://www.lpga.com/leaderboard
You international travellers will already know that Thailand, much like Dubai has become one of the world's must visit tourist destinations over the last 25 years, and the travelling band that makes up the LPGA Tour are either here or on Australia's Gold Coast if they are playing this weekend.
Amy Yang beat Stacy Lewis who still hasn't won since 2014, Mirim Lee and Yani Tseng here last year and Inbee Park returns to action after hurting her back earlier this year in the Bahamas.
There are no Canadians in the field
Ladies European Tour (LET)
RACV Australian Ladies Masters, RACV Royal Pines Resort
Gold Coast, Australia
Tee times/pairings http://ladieseuropeantour.com/?tournament=2016-racv-ladies-masters
Brooke Henderson leads the Canadians who have piled up their air miles points this weekend with their flights to Australia's east coast.
Lorie Kane, Nancy Harvey and Kyla Inaba are the others in this truly international field. The Graham Marsh redesign of Royal Pines was unveiled at last years Australian PGA Championship.
The defending champion is Aussie teenager Su Oh who won in only her 2nd pro start last year. For those who care, Cheyenne Woods (Tigers' niece) is in the field and deserves a mention since she won this event in 2014.
Bryan Angus
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