Newly crowned US PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Brandt Snedeker, will be out to up-stage the locals when the MFS Australian Open gets underway in Sydney on Thursday. The laid-back American awoke on Wednesday morning to confirmation he had secured the prestigious award after a stellar inaugural year that saw him finish 20th on the money list. But Snedeker, who missed the cut at Coolum last week, knows Australia&aposs formidable line-up of established stars will take some beating on their home patch. “It&aposs fun to kind of come and play the opposite role on their tour,” Snedeker said. “They&aposve all been very excited to have us down here, they&aposve been very nice.” “That being said, I really don&apost want to lose to them -they&aposve been beating up on me all year and I&aposd like to be able to beat up on them once on their soil.” “I didn&apost do a very good job of it last week so hopefully this week will be a different story.” By his own admission, Snedeker has yet to find top-gear on his Aussie adventure, but the affable 27-year-old warned he&aposll be ready to fire come Thursday. “I&aposve had a couple of really bad days of practice this week – I&aposm not hitting it that good right now but we&aposre going to go out there this afternoon and try to fix it and get ready for tomorrow morning,” he admitted. “It&aposs going to be a tough test of golf which I welcome.” “I like it when golf courses play real tough, the windier it is it seems to kind of eliminate some of the guys that aren&apost ready to get out there and realise they&aposre going to hit some bad shots.” “You can hit a lot of really good shots in this wind and catch a bad gust or misjudge the wind just slightly and you&aposre in a serious amount of trouble.” And while Snedeker said the opportunity to travel Australia was a major selling point, the history surrounding the tournament previously known as the &aposfifth major&apos was not lost on him. “It&aposs such a prestigious event, there&aposs so many great players that have won down here and at the end of the day it&aposs a national open.” “It&aposs not quite as equivalent to the US Open but it&aposs about as close for Americans to win this than it is for Australians down here.” “It&aposs a great event – you here all the Australians talk all year about how they can&apost wait to get home and play the Aussie Open.” “I mean (Greg) Norman&aposs won it I don&apost know how many times, (Jack) Nicklaus won it, Palmer won it so many great players won it so it&aposs definitely a trophy you want to try and have by the end of your career.”