The European Tour event has attracted world No.1 Brooks Koepka, 2016 US Open champ Dustin Johnson and other major champions such as Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Henrik Stenson and the newest member of golf’s most exclusive club, Irishman Shane Lowry.

In what has been a whirlwind start to his professional career, Micheluzzi’s past two starts came in South Africa and Singapore and he received an invitation to play this week courtesy of his management company, Lagadere Sports and Entertainment.

Having narrowly missed out on securing a full European Tour card towards the end of 2019, Micheluzzi’s schedule is something of an ever-evolving puzzle, the win by close friend Lucas Herbert just last week in Dubai a reminder of what playing well at the right time can do for your career.

While his mother regularly reminds Micheluzzi to do the best he can and take a lot of photos – “I never do because I’m always at golf” – it is the advice Lowry shared at the opening ceremony on Tuesday night that the 23-year-old will endeavor to heed.

Introduced to Lowry by members of the European Tour’s player liaison team, Micheluzzi dug deep into Lowry’s Open triumph before the Irishman gave the Victorian rookie words of encouragement around what it takes to be successful.

“He knows quite a lot of the amateurs in Ireland who I’m friends with so we got to chatting and he gave me some awesome advice,” said Micheluzzi, who turned professional last October.

“Just really believing in yourself and not putting too much pressure on yourself. When you turn pro there is a lot of expectation and he just said to me that if I’m good enough, it will come.

“It could be a year, it could be 10 years, it could be six years, but just keep working at it and be patient.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself. Don’t feel pressured to prove to people that you should be on the tour because they think you should be on the tour.

“It was pretty cool to hear it from a guy who has won a major and who has also won quite a few events.”

With only limited Challenge Tour status, Micheluzzi is in a position where every tournament invitation is warmly received, his status as the No.2-ranked amateur in the world prior to joining the professional ranks a handy introduction to tournament organisers.

It has meant that he has been away from his home in Melbourne for 12 of the 17 weeks that he has been a professional and opened his eyes to what life on tour is really like.

“This is definitely the longest stretch of golf I’ve ever had,” said Micheluzzi, who will play the Vic Open and then attend Asian Tour Q School in the coming weeks.

“You don’t really get that as an amateur. The tournaments are scattered. There might be four or five events and then a month off and you don’t really get those consecutive weeks like I’ve had the past few months.

“That’s been the big learning curve along with listening to the body. Walking a practice round rather than playing, having a day off if you need it, I’ve learnt quite a bit about myself in that respect.

“I came to the pro ranks with no status so I had no idea what I could get into.

“I just had to play everything.”

Competing against Koepka, Johnson and Lowry remains something of a novelty for now but the Metropolitan Golf Club member says the higher stakes are already helping to elevate his game.

“The scores probably haven’t shown it in the past three or four months since I turned pro but I feel like my game has definitely improved since I was an amateur,” said Micheluzzi, who has been trawling through the expansive Marvel cinematic universe as he criss-crosses the globe.

“Every shot counts now. If you’re coming 20th in an amateur event it doesn’t really matter how you finish whereas here on the European Tour with the Race to Dubai points, literally every shot matters.

“Just learning how to squeeze everything out of a round when it’s not going so well, that’s been the biggest learning curve.”

As for his former Victorian teammate, Micheluzzi said he was yet to have the chance to congratulate Herbert in person.

“I heard he had a big night Sunday night,” Micheluzzi offered.

“I think he only got in on Tuesday night so I haven’t had a chance to catch up yet. If it doesn’t happen this week I’ll see him at the Vic Open.

“I’ve been on junior state teams and mens state teams with Lucas, travelled heaps together and played Aussie Open with him last year so I know him pretty well.

“It was very cool to see him get over the line.”