First, it was Greg Norman. Then Steve Elkington. Then Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee. Then the Outback Steakhouse chain.

And now this. Stuart Appleby wins the Mercedes Championships, the PGA Tour's opening event of 2004, and heralds a warning that hey, mate, Australians are trying to take over the world.

Australians are to the PGA Tour what Koreans are to the LPGA Tour. That is, they are arriving not only in mass quantities but also with high quality. There are 17 Aussies playing on the PGA Tour this year. "Nearly 10 percent," Appleby told The Honolulu Advertiser shortly after his Mercedes victory. Nine Aussies will be competing this week in the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Here's the list, in case you're keeping score at home: Appleby, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley, Rod Pampling, John Senden, Scott Hend, Mark Hensby, Andre Stolz and Stephen Allan. It's quite a talented invasion, actually. Four of the top 30 players in the world rankings are Australian. Appleby wouldn't be a terrible pick to duplicate Ernie Els' start last year, when Els followed up his Mercedes victory with a Sony Open win. Appleby tied for second in the 2000 Sony and finished sixth last year after closing with a 63. Another Aussie, Baddeley, tied for first in last year's Sony, but lost when Els holed a monster putt in a playoff.

Appleby has always been a player of promise. When he first arrived on the tour, NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller liked the look of his game so much he thought Appleby had what it took to win a Masters. While Appleby has played well at times, winning five tournaments in his career, it appears he hasn't peaked yet. If his play at the Mercedes is any indication, this could be his year. His short game has never been his strength, particularly his putting, but he has worked hard on it and you saw the results. He had 110 putts at the Mercedes, an average of 27.5 per round. His putter made the difference because Vijay Singh, who finished one stroke back in second place, needed 118 putts for the week.

"Not much goes wrong with his game," Scott said of Appleby. "It's up to his short game."

Just so you can keep your Aussies straight, here is your list of the top 10 Australian players (New Zealanders included, since to North Americans they're Down Under, too).

1. Stuart Appleby. World Ranking: 11. Raised his game a level last fall when he scored his first win in four years, the Las Vegas Invitational. Hard to believe but he's already won more than $11 million on the PGA Tour as he begins his ninth year. He grew up on a dairy farm in Australia and his most noteworthy stat last year, besides ranking 23rd in scoring average, was that he led the tour in sand save percentage with 62.1. Has missed the cut in 13 of 28 majors but he was part of that wild four-man British Open playoff that Els won in 2002. The Masters is the only major in which he hasn't had a top-10 finish -- his best effort there was a tie for 21st in his first Masters, in 1997.

2. Robert Allenby. World Ranking: 15. A world-class ball-striker, Allenby has won four times on the PGA Tour and 13 times internationally. His latest victory came at the recent MasterCard Masters in Melbourne, which he won in a playoff. And it wasn't surprising that he did so, by the way. He's now 8-0 in his career in playoffs. He had nine top-10 finishes last year and was among the top 30 money-winners for the fourth straight year. He'd definitely make your list of the 10 best players who haven't won a major championship... yet.

3. Adam Scott. World Ranking: 23. If you combined Scott's classic swing (many say it resembles Tiger Woods', and Scott, in fact, works with Woods' ex-coach, Butch Harmon) with Baddeley's putting, you'd have, well, the next Greg Norman. At 23, Scott already has his first PGA Tour win under his belt, last year's inaugural Deutsche Bank Classic in the Boston area. He won four times on the European Tour as well, and notably gave Woods a tough match before losing in last year's Accenture World Match Play Championship semifinals at La Costa. He wears a lot of Burberry clothes, since they're his sponsor, and he actually played on the golf team at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for one year.

4. Peter Lonard. World Ranking: 30. Another typically good Aussie ballstriker who hits a low shot and excels in windy conditions. He's 36 and starting only his third year on the PGA Tour. He hasn't won in the U.S. yet, but he recently added the Australian Open to his list of international victories, which number six. He is temporarily sidelined by a rib injury that he incurred while stretching.

5. Michael Campbell. World Ranking 45. Campbell is actually a New Zealand native of Maori descent. He is 34 and probably best remembered by American golf fans for having trouble with the Road Hole bunker at St. Andrews Old Course in the 1995 British Open. He has won six times in Europe and last year announced he was giving up playing on the U.S. PGA Tour. His best PGA finish was second at the 2002 Bay Hill Invitational. He has his own Web site, cambogolf.com.

6. Craig Parry. World Ranking: 70. Though a little short in stature (5-foot-6), Parry has always been known as "Popeye" for his bulging forearms. He's in the crafty veteran category at 38. He won 19 international tournaments before finally getting his first U.S. win in the 2002 NEC Invitational at Sahalee. He had a pretty quiet 2003, playing only 16 tour events and finishing 165th on the money list. He's still exempt for that 2002 win. His Web site is craigparry.com.

7. Geoff Ogilvy. World Ranking: 75. Ogilvy, 26, is the sneakiest good player among the Aussies. In three seasons on the tour, he's finished 95th, 64th and 45th, yet you probably haven't heard of him. He finished second in each of his first three seasons, so he's poised to break out with a win. He tied for second at last year's Buick Open. He's a distant relative of Sir Angus Ogilvy, part of Britain's Royal Family. He's solid all-around. He hits it long, averaging 291.8 last year (which, incredibly, only gets him 53rd on the tour) and was 37th in putting average.

8. Rod Pampling. World Ranking: 105. Another solid player whose strength is that he has no glaring weakness. His claim to fame is tied to two majors. Last year, he shared the first-round PGA Championship lead with Phil Mickelson and eventually finished 14th. In 1999, he set a record by being the first player to lead the British Open's first round and then miss the cut. He was 68th on the money list last year with five top-10 finishes. His edge: His wife, Angela, is a clinical psychologist. Just what a professional golfer needs.

9. Aaron Baddeley. World Ranking: 106. The most personable and photogenic of the young Aussies, Badds also has his own Web site, Badds.com. He played his way to exempt status last year, his first full season on the PGA Tour. The second at the Sony Open got him started and he was consistent enough to make the cut in 15 of 20 tournaments. He had two other top-10 finishes and earned more than $989,000, placing 73rd on the money list. He was actually born in New Hampshire, but his parents moved back to Australia when he was 2, so Badds holds dual citizenship. His strength is his short game. He's a natural-born putter, which he proved by ranking third in the tour putting stats last year. His ballstriking needs work, though -- he ranked 186th in driving accuracy and 183rd in greens hit in regulation. In short, if he improves his ballstriking at all, he's going to be dangerous. He now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz.

10. Phil Tataurangi. World Ranking: 118. Another New Zealander, he's still exempt in the U.S., thanks to his only tour win, the 2002 Invensys Classic at Las Vegas. He was a bit of a comeback story then, having had heart surgery to correct a rapid heartbeat condition a few months earlier. He was a comeback story at Vegas, too, shooting a final-round 62 to rally from five shots behind David Duval (remember him?) for the win. He missed most of last year because of a herniated disc at the base of his spine. He played only 11 tournaments before having lower back surgery last May. Returning to competition at the PGA Championship, Tataurangi made the cut. However, his back still wasn't right and he went home to New Zealand. He's now going through a rehab program for his back, and began to lightly practice golf in November. He pulled out of this week's New Zealand Open because his back, unfortunately, is not yet ready for prime time.

Meanwhile, let's catch up on the rusty, dusty Mailbag:

I've heard a lot of grumbling about Johnny Miller and his analyses of players and situations -- that he is too insensitive and too frank, almost to the point of being blunt in his take on players' shots and club selections. Instead of griping about his political incorrectness, why don't people listen to what he has to say? The guy's been there and done that and, in his prime, not even Jack could challenge him. Frankly, I admire Miller's candor and wish Curtis Strange and Lanny Wadkins would take a page out of his book. Then it would be a pleasure to watch all three networks instead of just NBC. --John Boyle, Cypress, Calif.

I couldn't agree more, Boyle Boy. Miller is the gold standard of golf analysis. Rarely do you hear players gripe that he's wrong... because he seldom is. The truth is, many tour pros have big -- and fragile -- egos, having long been the source of attention, and nobody likes to be told they've hit a bad shot. Especially right after they hit one.

I have to question your 15 Minutes of Fame Top 10 list. What about Ben Curtis? After his victory, he was not heard from again. --David Bates, Sesser, Ill.

Not so, Bates Motel. He was the story of the week at the NEC Invitational in Akron because he got married shortly after the third round, rushing from the course at Firestone Country Club to the church in nearby Kent, Ohio. It was such an overblown national media event that barricades were erected around the church so media scum such as myself couldn't get closer than 75 yards to the lucky couple. I was expecting Stone Phillips to elbow me out of the way at any moment. So I left Curtis off the list because he scored a little more than 15 minutes. But, based on his dead-last showing at last weekend's Mercedes Championships, he's clearly got a shot to make that list this year.

Would the Masters still be a major if it was called the Taco Bell Masters? --David Gourno, Richland, Wash.

I'd say so. Especially if they replaced the concession stand pimento-cheese sandwiches with nacho beef and cheese chalupas.

The last two and a half majors (British, PGA, U.S. Amateur) featured fairways too narrow to hit, rough too deep to play out of, and greens too firm to hold. If the goal for major championship tracks is to identify the best players in the world, these wonderful courses must have been prepared by Stevie Wonder. Conditions so difficult that good and bad shots are equally penalized produce legendary champions such as Paul Lawrie, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel. Nothing against the Cinderella stories but all they did was have the most tickets pulled in a 72-hole raffle. --Jeff Roberts, Aiken, S.C.

Your opinion vaguely resembles my story from Oak Hill in Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section. I have to agree that overly tough conditions negate skill and become an equalizing crapshoot. The worst (or best) example was the '99 British Open at Carnoustie. C'mon, a Frenchman almost won the thing.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to SI.com.