Thomas Pieters is battling illness in the lead-up to the World Super 6 golf tournament in Perth.

Tournament favourite Thomas Pieters says he feels "absolutely crap" after being laid low by sickness on the eve of the World Super 6 Perth golf event at Lake Karrinyup.

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Pieters is one of the headline acts at the hybrid event, but he arrived in Perth on Monday night feeling worse for wear.

The world No.79 hopes he will feel much better when his first round tees off on Thursday, and concedes just making it to the starting line will be a mini feat in itself.

"I arrived Monday night and I feel like absolute crap," a forthright Pieters said.

"Normally I'm decent with it, but I got off the plane and I felt sick. I can't sleep. I took a lot of medication last night, and as you can hear I don't feel quite right.

"I felt perfect before I got on the plane. It's just a bad environment on a plane. There are lots of people on there who are maybe sick.

"You can catch something really quickly. It's happened before. It hasn't stopped me very often from playing good golf. I guess having less expectations is sometimes good."

The tournament suffered a blow on Tuesday when drawcard Andrew Johnston pulled out for personal reasons.

It leaves world No.55 Tom Lewis, 2006 US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy, Victorian Lucas Herbert, West Australians Jason Scrivener and recently turned professional Min Woo Lee plus Kiwi Ryan Fox as Pieters' biggest challengers.

Pieters, who won the World Cup of golf in Melbourne in November, last played in Perth in 2014.

Although he missed the cut at the now-defunct Perth International on that occasion, he feels he's a much better player now.

The World Super 6 is a different format, with three rounds of traditional stroke play to be followed by a Twenty20-style final round.

The top 24 players will go head-to-head in a series of six-hole elimination shootouts on Sunday, with the last man standing crowned the winner.

If a shootout is tied at the end of six holes, a 90m shootout hole will decide the winner of that duel.

Pieters is a fan of the format, having helped launch a similar event in Belgium.

WORLD SUPER 6 PERTH

Prize money: $A1.6 million

Course: Lake Karrinyup Country Club

Sanctioned by: The European Tour, Tour of Australasia, and Asian Tour

Past winners: 2017 - Brett Rumford; 2018 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat

TAB Betting odds (Only for leading player after 54 holes, before the final round shootouts)