Allenby blog: Excited to play for good friend at home

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Robert Allenby tees it up in his sixth Presidents Cup this week.

Editor's note: Melbourne native Robert Allenby is playing in his sixth Presidents Cup this week. The 40-year-old Australian didn't make the team in 1998, the last time the Presidents Cup was played at Royal Melbourne, so this week is particularly special for him. He'll share his experiences on PGATOUR.COM with this exclusive blog.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- This week has been awesome. Our team has come together really well so far and we're all prepared and rarin' to go come tomorrow morning. Greg's had a few talks with us which have been great. He's just got a great outlook on this event. We all have a lot of respect for him and really appreciate him being our captain. Obviously we want to win it for ourselves but we also want to win it for him. He's been my idol since I was a little kid. I first got to play with him when I was about 17 years old and we've become very good friends over the years. We've become even closer over the last four or five years. We hang out a little bit now, too, and he's been a good mentor for me. He's helped me a lot, not only with my golf but off the course as well. When I've had some hard times, he's always been there for me. So it's really great to get to play for him again this year.

Our team has a great time off the course, and this year is no exception. Our bus trips are always great, always great. We have a few beers on the way back into town, and there's plenty of banter back and forth. It's the way we've done it over the years. We just try to relax and enjoy each other's company. We have bonded really well. It's hard for our team to do that because we're made up of so many different countries and cultures. But I think we do a really good job. And obviously, No. 1, is the leader of the pack and that's Greg Norman. His assistant captains are the same way -- Timmy Clark is a great team player, and he's a laugh a minute. So is Frank Nobilo. So everyone just jells really nicely. It's amazing how quickly we can pick ourselves together and become one.

Playing in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne is like a dream come true for me. I first played here when I was 12. It was a scramble event and my dad and my godfather were playing, and they just said, we'll get Robert to play, as well. I loved it. I was in awe playing here. I've loved it ever since. I didn't shoot a great score that day. I shot 91. So I was obviously a little bit nervous playing here but since that time I've done OK. I won a couple of times here and finished runner-up here as an amateur in the Australian Open so I've got a lot of good memories at Royal Melbourne.

I hope I've been able to help the othe guys on the team, too. Yesterday we sat down in the team room and I gave them a little bit of advice about the greens and about this golf course. There's definitely some local knowledge that is needed. It's one of those golf courses you've got to be very careful on. The No. 1 thing is to never short-side yourself and always try to leave yourself an uphill putt. Downhill putts around here are probably the hardest putts in the world. Certain holes, if you land it on certain parts of the green it will run off the green so you have to be aware of that and know that you have to shoot for the right section of the green to be able to hold it on the putting surface. And the wind plays a big factor, too. I pretty much know the way the wind's going to blow for the rest of the week. It's always going to come out of the southeast because it's not going to be hot. When it's warm it comes out of the north, and everything else it's normally the south, or the southeast, and that's the wind we had today. I see that probably staying for the rest of the week.

I'm playing with Retief Goosen in the Foursomes on Thursday. We've drawn Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk in the fourth match of the afternoon. Goose and I were prepared and ready to play anyone. I don't think it really matters who you're playing in this tournament. Foursomes is a really wierd game. You've got to just play your best no matter what. After all, you're not playing against slouches here. I like our matchup with Furyk and Mickelson. I think it's a good one. We're excited. That's for sure. I can't wait to get going.