COOLUM, Australia — Not since the heady days of regular appearances by Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer have so many top players decided to travel Down Under to play in three Australasian PGA tour events spread over six weeks.

Credit the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in mid-November for having a large part to do with it. The challenge for Australian golf officials will be to find a way to entice stars like Tiger Woods, British Open champion Darren Clarke and top-ranked Luke Donald to return next year.

The Australian Open at Sydney from Nov. 10-13, in particular, reaped the benefit of players who wanted to arrive a week ahead of the Nov. 17-20 Presidents Cup to get over jet lag and familiarize themselves with Australian conditions.

Captain’s pick Woods and his U.S. teammates Matt Kuchar, David Toms, Nick Watney and Hunter Mahan are among the Australian Open entries at The Lakes, along with U.S. captain Fred Couples, his International counterpart Greg Norman, defending champion and International team member Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott.

“Our field is the best we’ve ever had,” Stephen Pitt, chief executive officer of Golf Australia.