A brisk wind livened up the early-morning proceedings Wednesday as the pro-am round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open got underway at TPC Summerlin, not much farther than a Dustin Johnson drive from the Las Vegas strip.

The pro-am featured most of the top-ranked Tour players on hand, although the highest-ranked among the inadvertently super-sized field (144 instead of the intended 132) is only No. 18 in the Official Golf World Ranking (play away, Jimmy Walker). In fact, with only seven of the game’s top-50 players competing, this might just be the week for one of a trio of major champions to rediscover their form and get off to a brisk, winning start in the 2016-2017 season.

The Shriners is Graeme McDowell’s first event of the of the 2016-2017 Fall Series. After two seasons without a victory, the 2010 U.S. Open champ earned his third PGA Tour title, to go along with 10 other professional wins, last November at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. That win, along with several solid performances immediately preceding it, was the good news for G-Mac in 2015-2016; the bad news was his 10 missed cuts in 21 Tour starts. On the first tee, one of his pro-am partners teasingly accused the bundled-up McDowell, currently 79th in the OWGR, of bringing the chilly, links-y breeze with him.

When the weather’s back to being more typical, Thursday through Sunday, maybe G-Mac will be Vegas-hot too.

Webb Simpson, currently No. 75 in the OWGR, stumbled out of the 2016-2017 gate, missing the cut at the Safeway Open by six strokes. The 2012 U.S. Open champ’s fourth and most recent Tour win was at the then newly named Shriners in 2014, when his 24-under par total was six better than runners-up Jason Bohn and Ryo Ishikawa. Since that Vegas win and 2013-14 season, Simpson has been unquestionably solid, posting top-25 finishes in almost half of his events. On Sunday, though, he has the chance to join Jim Furyk as the only Shriners repeat winner.

The 2011 PGA champion, Keegan Bradley, 105th in the world, is already trending in the right direction for 2016-2017, with a T22 at the Safeway and a sixth-place finish at the CIMB Classic, which he led after the first round with an opening 8-under 64. Last year, by comparison, was a bit of a disappointing one for Bradley, missing 11 cuts in his 26 events and having his worst prize-money year since joining the Tour full time in 2011. A Shriners win would be Bradley’s fourth Tour title, and first since the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

McDowell, Simpson and Bradley each shot 1-under (T8) in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Pro-Am.