Marc Leishman admits a red-hot Cameron Smith is in the driver's seat for a dream World Cup of Golf debut but hasn't ruled out an Adam Scott fightback at this week's BMW Championship.
The event will be held at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne from November 22-25, featuring two players from the top-28 nations on the world rankings.
Each nation's top-ranked golfer became eligible on September 3 and has until September 13 to accept or defer his selection.
World No.11 Jason Day tops the Australian list but is uncertain on returning to his homeland given wife Ellie is due to give birth to the couple's third child days before the Cup.
If Day was to defer, world No.21 Leishman would be the frontrunner with Smith (32nd) the next best, followed by Scott (39th).
With Smith posting consecutive third-place results in the opening two events of the FedExCup playoffs, Leishman says the young Queenslander has his nose just in front of Scott.
"I think Cam's form has been very good ... Cam is probably in the box seat," Leishman told AAP at the BMW Championship on Tuesday.
"But I am going to wait until the deadline to give everyone the best chance to get in.
"One good week from Scotty and he's only got to jump eight spots; I'm giving them both as much chance I can.
"A lot can happen in a week; golf is a funny game."
Scott, who selected Leishman for the 2016 World Cup at Kingston Heath, laid down the marker to Smith two weeks ago at the FedExCup finals opener in New Jersey.
The former world No.1 said, tongue-in-cheek, that Smith "better be up for" a selection battle.
Smith admitted the friendly fire played a part in his sensational start to the $US67 million ($A93 million) FedExCup series.
"Yeah it fired me up a fair bit; I knew it was a big challenge to get back ahead of (Scott) on the rankings," the 25-year-old said.
Smith has climbed to eighth on the FedExCup standings and leads the Australians, ahead of Day (10th), Leishman (22nd) and Scott (48th).
But he said his World Cup debut is far from locked in.
Smith is determined to win the BMW Championship after twice falling just short of Bryson DeChambeau in the first two playoffs events.
"My foot is on the pedal; I still need to make sure of (World Cup selection)," Smith said.
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