Two of the brightest young stars in the Australian game face a potentially life-changing week after receiving sponsor’s invitations to this week’s European Tour event in Italy.

Lucas Herbert and Jordan Zunic are among a group of talented young Australians yet to find a place on one of the game’s biggest international Tours and both will be looking to make the most of this week’s opportunity at the Rocco Forte Open in Sicily.

Zunic is already a two-time winner on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia while Herbert was one of the standout performers of the Australian summer and has since gone on to earn status on both the Canadian and China Tours.

Both have their sights set on playing the European Tour and/or PGA TOUR in the medium to long-term and a solid showing this week would be a boost in that endeavour.

Zunic makes his first start since the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open where he finished T38 while Herbert missed the cut in his last start at the Volvo China Open.

This is just the second year of the Rocco Forte tournament but already it has been a happy hunting ground for Australians with both Jason Scrivener and Marcus Fraser posting top-5results in 2017.

Both players bring decent form to this year’s event, also, with Fraser on a run of five consecutive cuts made while Scrivener was top-20 at the Volvo China Open a fortnight ago.

Also taking their place in the field this week are Nick Cullen, Jack Munro, Matt Millar and Josh Geary.

Like Herbert and Zunic, Cullen continues to try to play his way to the top echelons of the world game and has a bit of a score to settle with this week’s venue.

Opening rounds of 66-70 had him in excellent position heading to the weekend last year but he faded with 74-75 over the final 36 holes.