Harwood is one of 87 professionals contesting the $100,000 tournament at the Thurgoona Country Club Resort.

“Absolutely in Australia, it’s definitely a major event,” he said.

“We have a couple of other events which are probably up around the same sort of prizemoney.

“As you can see from the field here, the guys are very interested in playing and supporting Australian golf, it’s great.”

Many of Australia’s greatest players from the 1970s on will contest the 54-hole event, which starts Thursday.

The cut will be made after Friday’s second round, comprising the top 50 and ties.

Ian Baker-Finch is the only major winner in the field, claiming the 1991 Open Championship.

But there’s a host of players who boast top five finishes, including Harwood, who was edged out by Baker-Finch for the title by two shots at Royal Birkdale.

“At the time I wasn’t too happy finishing second,” he said.

“I was probably in the best part of my career and not used to coming second.

“When I play well, I always had the the ability to finish it off and win.

“I played great the whole day, I hit one bad shot and got run down by ‘Finchy’.

“That was a bit of a shock because I wasn’t expecting to lose.”

However, Harwood remains philosophical about the near miss.

“You have to look at the situation, ‘Finchy’ had just been beaten in two sudden-death play-offs in the States the two weeks before, so his form was amazing,” he said.

“I’d played the Scottish Open the week before and shot a couple of 80s, so I had nothing going into the tournament.

“I had broken ribs earlier in the year, so I was searching for something and I found something.

“So when you look back at that and say, ‘hey, OK, maybe second’s not a bad thing coming from where I did and he was’.

“So obviously I was disappointed, but if I had a bogey on the last hole to lose, done a Jean van de Velde, you would have been gutted for the rest of your life, but I didn’t do that, he (Baker-Finch) won it, I didn’t.”

Harwood shot a final round three-under 67, with Baker-Finch equalling a record 130 shots for the last 36 holes.

The 58-year-old now competes on the European Senior Tour, finishing runner-up to Paul Broadhurst in the Scottish Open in August.

Peter Senior will start one of the favourites after claiming the Bermagui Legends Pro-Am and South Pacific Classic New Caledonia in the past two months.