Nick Cullen and Andrew Dodt both face the biggest opportunity of their careers when they tee up at the AU$12.5 million WGC Bridgestone Invitational this week.

Both WGC rookies, Dodt and Cullen will not only be playing for the biggest purse of their careers but will get to test their games against a field much stronger than either is accustomed to.

Cullen tees up in Ohio courtesy of his emotional victory at last year’s Australian Masters at Metropolitan while Dodt’s win at the True Thailand Classic in February got him into the tournament.

With a field of just 75 players, no cut and guaranteed money the two might be the least credentialed of the six Australians in the field but have nothing to lose and the ability to free wheel for the week can produce big results.

Both will take heart from Alistair Presnell’s 2010 performance at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral where a final round 64 vaulted him to a top-10 finish and a pay day of more than $200,000.

A top finish in an elite event such as this also opens doors to other tournaments and sponsorship opportunities and both Dodt and Cullen will be acutely aware of the potential windfall a good week might have.

While Cullen and Dodt will likely feel like small fish in a big pond this week Australia’s other four representatives are anything but.

Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Steven Bowditch have all been at the pointy end of world golf in recent years and all will be expecting to finish at or near the lead come Sunday.

Leishman tees up for the first time since his brilliant performance at St Andrews three weeks ago and after finishing outright third here last year must be considered a legitimate chance.

This will be the Victorian’s third appearance at Firestone Country Club after also making the field in 2012 where he finished T45.

While the eventual result at the Old Course was agonising there were only positives for Leishman who, like Jason Day, seems to save his best golf for the biggest events.

Day himself comes into the week in some of the best form of his career having captured the Canadian Open just a fortnight ago in stunning fashion.

Like Leishman, Day was agonisingly close at St Andrews but put the disappointment behind him and less than a week after missing the play-off by a shot claimed his second PGA TOUR title of the year with a thrilling final hole birdie.

While the Queenslander will undoubtedly have one eye on the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits next week there is every reason to think he will be thereabouts this Sunday and won’t be afraid to take his opportunity should it present.

This marks Day’s sixth appearance at Firestone where he has a surprisingly poor record for a player of his calibre.

His best finish came in 2011 when he fired an opening round 63 before eventually finishing T4, still his only top-10 at the tournament.

Fellow Queenslander Adam Scott also has a surprisingly mixed set of results at Firestone despite his stirring 2011 victory.

That win is one of only four top-10 finishes in 14 appearances though it was the performance that took the Queenslander’s game to the next level.

His first win with Steve Williams on the bag, it launched a run of play that eventually culminated in his 2013 Masters victory and cemented his place as one of the best players in the world.

Like Leishman and Day, Scott had a genuine chance to win the Claret Jug at St Andrews last month and while that opportunity slipped through his fingers he will be keen to make amends this week and next.

The last Australian in the field is Steven Bowditch who comes into the week off a somewhat unusual performance at the Quicken Loans last week.

The now two time PGA TOUR winner has matured greatly as a player since his first victory in Texas last year and has shown a consistent run of form for much of 2015.

However, having played his way into contention through three rounds last week Bowditch inexplicably imploded in the final round, suffering the indignity of a Sunday 83 to fall from the top-10 to the tail end of the leader board.

It was likely just a blip in what has been an otherwise encouraging season and it would be a surprise if Bowditch doesn’t improve on his only other WGC Bridgestone appearance, a 44th place result last year.