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There's no sugar coating it, says Louis Oosthuizen: the Internationals must beat the USA next week to keep the Presidents Cup interesting.

With seven straight defeats and only one tie in the past nine showdowns since 1998, the Internationals - and the event on golf's calendar - can't afford another beating.

And big-talking Oosthuizen is confident the camaraderie within the Internationals' ranks can help the multi-cultured underdogs, featuring 12 players from nine different countries, can upset the Tiger Woods-led Americans and revive the rivalry.

"Everyone always says that we don't have team spirit or don't have enough. I can promise you, when Thursday (week) comes, we're like 12 brothers in that team," the South African said.

"We've bonded, we're ready to go, we want to win ... we need to get our name on the trophy again and show the Americans we're here to play. We're here to win the trophy, to win the Cup and not just show up to just have a good week."

The 2010 British Open champion and a runner-up in golf's other three majors, Oosthuizen is the only South African in countryman Ernie Els' team this edition.

In perhaps a happy omen, Els was the only South African representative the last time the Internationals raised the trophy - at Royal Melbourne no less - 21 years ago.

"It will be strange being the only South African in the team," Oosthuizen said.

"I've been with Leish (Marc Leishman) and Scotty (Adam Scott) in all the other teams that I've played in, so they feel just as close as what the South Africans would feel to me.

"But, yeah, it was unfortunate that Gracie (Branden Grace) couldn't make it. I know he was trying really hard at the end there and pushing and pushing, but the other guys just played so well."

The sweet-swinging Oosthuizen will fine-tune his game at the Australian Open starting on Thursday.

In Sydney for the first time, the jet-lagged star will rely on just one practice round in Wednesday's pro-am to become accustomed to The Australian layout.

"The game feels good, so I just need to get a little bit of play in this week and patch up a few things in the game to get it ready for next week," he said.

"I'm ready to tee it up and see what the golf course is like and just try and win the trophy."

Golf Australia plans to bolster on-site medical staff if Sydney's fire-driven smog continues to disrupt this week's Australian Open.

GA boss Stephen Pitt admitted the hazardous haze above The Australian Golf Club on Tuesday had presented unusual challenges with at least one player preparing for the All Abilities event reporting breathing difficulties.

While Pitt is confident the Open will proceed without any smoky delays, officials will closely monitor the weather with children and elderly spectators most susceptible to the threatening air quality.

"Firstly our issues with smoke at a golf tournament pale into insignificance with the things that home owners and property owners and people right around the country have dealt with," Pitt said.

"So we're very aware of that fact and all our sympathies and thoughts go to them because that's the real issue.

"For us, this week has been a little bit different the first couple of days. It's something we've never had to give consideration to before - we've had storms and rain and hail and heat and cold and all those sort of things that are your typical gold tournament issues.

"But this one is new and we have been in constant contact with the Bureau of Meteorology and the outlook is fairly optimistic."

Pitt said Tuesday's poor conditions during practice were largely due to a westerly wind.

"And I believe that's the worst wind we can get in terms of smoke but that is due to change this evening," he said.

"There's southerlies and then potentially a north-easterly that will come in. They will clear the area, which is not just good news for us but also for the people of Sydney and surrounding areas.

"But it is a situation we will continue to monitor."

Already some spectators have been spotted in smog masks.

Pitt said the Open was already well-covered with St John Ambulance representatives but more assistance would be sought if needed.

Any stoppage after the tournament starts wouldn't be unprecedented, with last month's Indian Open postponed due to air pollution, prompting Australian touring professional Jason Norris to post a photo of himself on Facebook wearing a surgical mask.

"We've been postponed on the course many times but never due to pollution. There's a first for everything," Norris said.

Two-time Australian Open champion Greg Chalmers has revealed he feared his career may have been over before undergoing radical back therapy.

Chalmers will tee off with modest hopes on Thursday in what will be the US PGA regular's first tournament since last year's Open at The Lakes.

But he already feels like a winner having overcome debilitating injury just to make it back.

"I had arthritis in all five joints in the lumbar spine and a torn ligament," Chalmers told AAP on Tuesday.

"So I fixed the ligament with blood spinning PRP, which is plasmar rich Platelets.

"It took a long time but it worked and I fixed the arthritis with some anti-inflammatories.

"It took six months to get that part right but it took six months to get diagnosed correctly."

The 46-year-old admitted he ventured to some dark places during his near 18-month layoff.

"Not to play golf for a living again has certainly crossed my mind on more than one occasion and I didn't enjoy that," Chalmers said.

"I played here last year just to see how I was going to go and it wasn't any good and I was still in pain.

"My last meaningful event in the United States was July 2018 so my goal is just to get the first one in the air and be pain-free for the duration.

"I've been practising hard here this week and waking up feeling good. So that's a victory already. And if I happen to play great, great. That's awesome.

"But ultimately it's just about competing this week as best I can."

Champion at Royal Adelaide in 1998 before lifting the Stonehaven Cup a second time in 2010 at The Lakes, Chalmers is attempting to join Jack Nicklaus, Peter Thomson and Greg Norman in a rare group to have won the Open at least three times.

But deep down he's unsure how he'll fare.

"You won't know till the gun goes off but I'm hitting the ball nicely in practice. I've just got to play under pressure a little. I haven't done that for a long time so it's going to be interesting," he said.

"But the good news is I'm excited about playing again."

A trimmed-down Marc Leishman will carry a major-like focus into this week's Australian Open as he bids once more to shed his tag as the country's best golfer yet to win on home soil.

Leaner Leishman on Tuesday revealed he'd dropped eight kilograms since August after being mistaken for a rather rotund British Open champion Shane Lowry.

"It was a conscious thing that I did and I'm glad I did it," he said ahead of the Open's first round at The Australian in Sydney.

"It's not a whole lot of weight but if you put eight kilos in a suitcase and carry that around all the time, it makes a difference.

"It took a little bit of time for my body to adjust golf-wise but I feel better for it now.

"I just tried to cut out sugar and bread, really. That's about it. I've cut down a little bit on the beer. That's going to be easier said than done while I'm home in Australia."

It will likely be even more difficult in a fortnight when the 2015 British Open runner-up releases a mid-strength version of his Leishman Lager that's he been producing in the US for the past three years.

Leishman, though, is intent on keeping the weight off after carrying extra around the midriff led to back issues that disrupted what had been a hot start to 2019 with four top-10 finishes in his first five events.

Playing the Open for the first time in four years, Leishman is desperate to not only contend for the Stonehaven Cup but also help the International team break their 21-year drought next week against the US at Royal Melbourne.

"You don't want to put any event on a pedestal but it's hard not to put these big Australian events on a pedestal like majors," he said.

"(They are) two tournaments that I really want to win. Every Australian golfer wants to win the national open and then I've been on three losing Presidents Cup teams and I don't really want it to be four."

One of the favourites in a strong field, Leishman conceded he may have wanted it too much in the past.

On other occasions the laid-back Victorian was too blase.

"I've had chances the last two years to win tournaments in Australia," he said.

"Before 2015, I think I was either going too hard or relaxing too much. I didn't have that balance."

The future of Australian golf looks healthy with amateur players bagging six of the last eight spots in the Australian Open field from Monday qualifying.

In three qualifying sites across Sydney, amateurs Louis Dobbelaar, Justin Morley, Harrison Crowe, Hayden Hopewell, Jack Thompson and William Bayliss secured the 11th-hour exemptions into the 144-man Open.

Queensland's Dobbelaar, 18, birdied the last two holes for a 65 to lead the three qualifiers at Carnarvon Golf Club.

Club professional Anthony Choat (68) and Sydney's Crowe (68) were the two other qualifiers from Carnarvon.

Dobbelaar's talent has been nurtured recently by Cameron Smith, an Australian star on the US PGA Tour, with the pair coached by Queensland guru Grant Field.

Smith has flown Dobbelaar to Florida to practise with him as part of Smith's scholarship.

"It feels surreal," Dobbelaar said. "It'll be an awesome week. There's some really good names out there, so it'll be great to be amongst them.

"I remember watching it (the Open) as a kid and to be playing in it is pretty special."

Promising Western Australian amateur Hopewell shot 65 at Glenmore Heritage Valley to qualify alongside Adelaide's Thompson and teaching pro Michael Smyth.

Hopewell was runner-up in this year's WA Open, a professional event.

The third qualifying site was Ryde-Parramatta, with amateurs Morley and Bayliss securing the two Open spots played with 71s.

The qualifiers will tee off on Thursday at the 104th Open, which will boast one of the strongest fields in eight years.

Adam Scott headlines the Australian stars alongside Smith and Marc Leishman.

Overseas drawcards include major winners Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen, as well as England veteran Paul Casey.

The Open will be held at The Australian GC.

Adam Scott has left the door open to represent Australia at next year's Olympics in Japan despite remaining staunchly against golf's place at the Summer Games.

Former world No.1 Scott was opposed to golf returning in 2016 to the Olympics, after a 112-year absence, dubbing the Rio edition a "weaker-than-most field that doesn't really pique my interest".

Scott's stance was lambasted by Australian former athletes at the time, including swimming legend Dawn Fraser.

Australia's only winner of the Masters green jacket still believes it should not be at the Olympics, or should at least be contested by amateur players.

But he has not ruled out lining up for Australia in Tokyo.

"It is possible, absolutely," Scott said on Monday at The Australian GC, ahead of Thursday's Australian Open.

"I haven't prioritised it ... but I haven't ruled it out. We will see how the year shapes up for me."

Scott suggested Olympic golf could be improved by becoming a teams event.

"I still question strongly why it is there; I don't see the need," Scott said.

"It was incredibly disappointing that it was just a 72-hole stroke (play event); I think there could have been so much done with it.

"I don't think we're getting the most out of it, for a sport that is certainly not struggling at the professional level."

Scott said the reason for entertaining Tokyo was that he wanted to make an informed, emotionless decision once he had confirmed his 2020 schedule.

"You always have to stay open minded; I just don't want to hastily say 'no' or be silly based off more emotion.

"I know it is going to be a very successful event in Japan because the Japanese love golf."

Scott will headline the 104th Australian Open after countryman Jason Day's injury withdrawal.

Turning 40 next July, Scott is desperate to win the Open for a second time having lifted the Stonehaven Cup in 2009.

A frank Scott admitted he thought he would have won more Opens in the decade since, but conceded the same about his US PGA Tour and major championship career.

"It took me the better part of 10 years to win (the Australian Open) and 10 years later and I haven't won another," he said.

Scott's greatest chance came in 2013 when he was beaten on the final hole by superstar Rory McIlroy at Royal Sydney.

He finished second by one shot again in 2015 to Matt Jones at The Australian GC.

"I've been close a couple times but I was pipped at the post," Scott said.

"The most frustrating thing, if I look at my career, is that I didn't win more Aussie Opens, or majors for that matter, in a period when I'd say I played my best golf from 2011 through to the end of 2016."

However, a hot PGA Tour season, highlighted by two runner-up results, has Scott confident of another purple patch he hopes starts this week.

"I think I've got another stretch in me," he said.

"I'd very much like to win here at The Australian; I like this course a lot."

Victorian amateur Lukas Michel is trying not to think about a dream reconnaissance mission to Augusta National next week with his Australian Open debut looming.

Michel, 25, became the first Australian to win the US Mid-Amateur Championship in September - a prestigious United States Golf Association event for over-25s that no international player had won in its 39-year history.

The victor is afforded an invitation to the Masters at Augusta and the US Open, with the latter held at New York's famed Winged Foot course in June.

To get himself in competitive shape before April's Masters, Michel played last week's NSW Open before contesting his first Australian Open.

The 104th Open starts Thursday at The Australian GC in Sydney, with Australian stars Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith headlining alongside international drawcards Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Paul Casey.

Michel admits a trip to the home of the Masters is in the back of his mind.

"I'm actually going to Augusta next week," an excited Michel told AAP during a practice round at The Australian GC.

"People always say the first time you see Augusta National is quite overwhelming so it will be good to get some of the awe out of the way and be focused when I tee off at the Masters in April.

"I'm going to play the course four or five times over three days to get familiar with Augusta; it's a course that requires a lot of experience and knowledge of where to miss it and where to be aggressive."

Michel is determined to earn a good result at the Masters, his major championship debut.

"I'd like to set my goals high," he said.

"Leading amateur would be nice and I'd obviously like to make the cut.

"Doing enough to get an invite back (via finishing in the top 12) would be an amazing result."

A kid wonder, Michel was recently hired as design associate by acclaimed golf course architect Mike Clayton for his new firm.

"Mike and I have known each other for several years," Michel said.

"I've got an engineering degree, so I can help with drawings and plans and I'm fascinated by course design, so the stars aligned.

"For the short term, I'm focused on becoming a professional golfer but it is great to have that as a career option."

Ian Baker-Finch is more concerned by the frequency of Jason Day's back injuries than the 32-year-old's withdrawal from the Australian summer of golf.

On Saturday, Day pulled out of a scheduled homecoming tour - where he was to headline this week's Australian Open in Sydney before playing for the International team in next week's Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

The former world No.1 cited the latest in a series of back issues he has suffered this year.

In March, Day was forced to withdraw hurt after playing six holes of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Weeks later, he received on-course medical treatment on his back during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National, where he eventually tied fifth.

A concerned Baker-Finch urged Day to focus on rehabilitating his back.

"I'm very disappointed that Jason isn't coming back, it would have been great for fans to see him play two big events in two Australian cities," Australian Olympic golf team captain Baker-Finch said.

"But I'm more concerned about his back, for a 32-year-old, than I am about him not returning to Australia.

"Playing through injury just to satisfy fans can only worsen his back and hurt his confidence if he's playing poorly in front of home crowds.

"He needs to spend time rehabilitating his back for next year, because he is a remarkable talent who has had an unlucky run with injuries."

Day has faced criticism from Australian fans for playing the Open just five times - including two as an amateur - while building a stellar career in the US highlighted by 51 total weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer.

AAP understands the Queenslander was receiving medical treatment at his home in Ohio in the days leading up to announcing his withdrawal at the weekend.

Still, the 12-times PGA Tour winner was lambasted on social media with some questioning the legitimacy of his injuries.

One American golf blogger accused Day of "once again" figuring out "how to skip Aussie golf season".

Former tour player turned course architect Mike Clayton rubbished suggestions that Day was healthy enough to play.

However, he did express disappointment in Day's limited competitive appearances in Australia.

"Clearly, he wouldn't pull out so close to the Open unless he was seriously hurt, which he is," Clayton said.

"Fans don't mind if you're injured, but they do mind if you're not injured but still don't come back and play.

"I wanted to see him play; I've loved watching him since he was 15-years-old playing for the Queensland state team.

"You could see back then that he was going to be a great player."

Marc Leishman says taking on Tiger Woods head to head in a Presidents Cup final day singles match at Royal Melbourne holds no fears for him.

Leishman or fellow Australian Cameron Smith are tipped to be handed the high-profile assignment against the United States team's playing-captain Woods by International team skipper Ernie Els.

In Melbourne before the biennial showdown at Royal Melbourne starting on December 12, world No.27 Leishman said he wouldn't be intimidated by facing Woods - despite the 15-times major winner's legendary status and the world attention he attracts.

"I've played a lot of golf with Tiger and I'm pretty comfortable but if the other boys want to take him on I will gladly let them do that," Leishman said on Monday.

Leishman tipped world No.52 Smith to have a big impact on the world-famed sandbelt course.

"It does set up really well for him as he's got one of the best wedge games I've ever seen, so I think he will do really well at Royal Melbourne," Leishman said.

"He's got the confidence to go along with it and with golf, you need a lot of confidence."

Leishman also joined fellow Australian Adam Scott in pleading for the crowd to get behind the International team, rather than cheering for the star-studded US line up and in particular Woods, who is likely playing for the last time in Australia.

"It's a great opportunity to see the world's best players but also a great opportunity to give the international team a real home ground advantage and we really need that," Leishman said.

"It's up to us International players to do some good stuff, make some good putts and birdies to get the crowd into it early.

"The crowd can be like an extra player on our team which we really need."

Leishman backed Jason Day's replacement Byeong-Hun An to perform well for the Internationals after the former world No.1 withdrew at the weekend due to a back injury.

It's a blow for the Internationals, who have only won once against the US since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

But Leishman said world No.43 An had been hungrily waiting for a chance to play in the biennial showpiece.

South Korean An had three top 10 and eight top-25 finishes in the 2018-19 PGA Tour season.

"I know Jason is disappointed but Ben An is a great replacement," Leishman said, before heading to the course for a practice round.

"I know he really wanted to be on the team, he's missed out the last two Presidents Cups so I know he's really excited.

"He's a great player and anyone on the team would be happy to be paired with him any day."

In a major disappointment, Jason Day has been ruled out of the Australian summer of golf with a back injury.

The former world No.1 will miss next week's Australian Open in Sydney and then the Presidents Cup in Melbourne after being advised to shut down his season.

International captain Ernie Els has replaced Day with South Korean An Byeong-hun as his team of heavy underdogs attempt to beat the powerhouse USA outfit for the first time since 1998.

Day, set to play his fifth Presidents Cup, was a captain's pick for the December 9-15 biennial event at Royal Melbourne Golf Club where the International side, representing the rest of the world minus Europe, face a US team led by Tiger Woods.

"We wish Jason well and hope his back recovers quickly," Els said in a statement. "We were eager to have Jason as part of the team at Royal Melbourne and his experience will be missed.

"The good news is that there were a number of strong and qualified players available to choose from when I made my captain's selections.

"To have someone as steady and talented as Ben An puts us in a great position to succeed."

"I'm quite disappointed I won't be coming home to play in either the Australian Open in Sydney or the Presidents Cup the following week in Melbourne," Day said in a statement.

"I was quite looking forward to both events.

"I had been prepping all week in Palm Springs when I was injured. Frustratingly, I've been through back problems before and my medical team decided it best to shut down all practice and play."

An had three top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour last season, including a third-place at the Wyndham Championship in August.

The South Korean has enjoyed a hot start to the new season with third place at the Sanderson Farms Championship and ties for sixth at the CJ Cup and eighth at the Zozo championships.

"It was a huge surprise to receive a call from Ernie who told me that I was in the team," said An, the son of two Olympic table tennis medallists.

"It has been a goal of mine all season to be on the International Team and I am honoured to play in my first Presidents Cup."