The 26-year-old Sydneysider’s parents Brian and Dianne’s owned and ran a coffee shop called Thyme Square Café where he spent most morning and afternoons in his youth doing his homework or clearing empty cups.

When Harrison was 15, Brian sold the café following Dianne’s death from ovarian cancer and ever since he has continued to ensure that he supported other small, family-run businesses.

Finding them on crowd-sourced review app Yelp during his travels around the United States has proven to be a valuable outlet from the world of professional golf too.

“I love good food,” Endycott told PGATOUR.COM. “I love all that type of stuff. So, it’s like, for me, when I’m on Tour, I really enjoy finding – especially at the start of the week – and going to the same coffee shop every day and getting to know people there.

“I want to support a family of four that is running a sandwich shop or something like that. That’s just me. I would rather give them business than go to like a Red Lobster or something like that. I’d rather just try to find somewhere where everyone knows each other and things like that because that’s what I grew up with.”

Getting to know people at Thyme Square Café also played a big part in Harrison’s golfing journey as father-son PGA professionals, and café regulars, Mark and Ben Paterson helped him make inroads at Avondale Golf Club and they have become extended family.

Now, Harrison faces the test of breaking a run of three missed cuts at The American Express in California where he will tee it up alongside fellow Australians Jason Day, Aaron Baddeley and Cam Davis.

Baddeley earned his start this week courtesy of his top-ten finish at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, while Davis holds fond memories of this event after coming third two years ago and Day makes his first appearance of 2023.

Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener are also in action for the first time this year at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The West Australian pair made strong starts to the DP World Tour season on home soil last year at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and the ISPS HANDA Australian Open to sit just outside the top-ten on the Tour’s rankings – Lee is 11^th and Scrivener is 13^th.

Number two on last season’s rankings Kiwi Ryan Fox is also getting back into the swing of things in Abu Dhabi with an eye to reaching the lofty heights of 2022 once again.

“I looked at my goals list for last year to sort of redo it for this year and I don’t think I’ve ever had this before – I literally ticked everything off last year, which is pretty cool,” Fox said.

“I couldn’t have dreamed of a year like that. I’ve obviously got a few benefits of that this year with The Masters invite and a few other things.

“It’ll probably take a little while to still kind of realise what happened last year, but it was pretty cool to be a part of and hopefully it can continue this year.

“Obviously it’s sometimes hard to follow up a year like that but I’ve certainly got some good goals for this year and lots to play for.”

It is also a massive week for the 21 Australians seeking to earn one of the 35 Asian Tour cards up for grabs at the five-round Final Stage of Qualifying School in Thailand.

Play began on Wednesday with Vic Open champion Dimitrios Papadatos, rookie West Australian professionals Connor McKinney and Hayden Hopewell, WA Open champion Deyen Lawson and Gippsland Super 6 winner Tom Power Horan among the Australians hunting further opportunities in Asia.

The Korn Ferry Tour is kicking off its year with back-to-back events in The Bahamas and Brett Drewitt came in a tie for fourth in the The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay which wrapped up on Wednesday.

The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club begins on Sunday with Drewitt, Curtis Luck and Rhein Gibson taking part, while the Champions Tour gets under way for 2023 in Hawaii where the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup winner Steven Alker of New Zealand and Rod Pampling will tee it up.

The LPGA also returns with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida for winners from the past two seasons but Minjee Lee – the only Australian eligible – is not playing in order to enjoy more time off at home.

Round 1 tee times and TV schedule AEDT

DP World Tour

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Yas Links Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE

3pm*   Min Woo Lee, Callum Shinkwin, Ewen Ferguson

3.10pm Jason Scrivener, Sam Horsfield, Jeunghun Wang

6.45pm Ryan Fox (NZ), Tyrrell Hatton, Sepp Straka

7.15pm*           Daniel Hillier (NZ), Julien Guerrier, Alexander Levy

Defending champion: Thomas Pieters

Past Aussie winners: Nil

TV times: Live 6.30pm-12.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 6pm-12am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505.

PGA TOUR

The American Express

Pete Dye Stadium Course, La Quinta, California

Nicklaus Tournament Course

5.31am*           Jason Day, Sungjae Im

Pete Dye Stadium Course

3.30am*           Aaron Baddeley, Kramer Hickok

3.52am Harrison Endycott, John Pak

4.14am*           Cam Davis, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

4.36am*           Danny Lee (NZ), David Lingmerth

Defending champion: Hudson Swafford

Past Aussie winners: Bruce Devlin (1970)

TV times: Live 7am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 505.

Asian Tour

Final Stage Qualifying School

Lake View Resort and Golf Club, Hua Hin, Thailand

Australasians in the field: Doeun An, Austin Bautista, Sam Brazel, Kevin Chun (NZ), Charlie Dann, Louis Dobbelaar, David Gleeson, Hayden Hopewell, Tom Power Horan, James Hydes (NZ), Denzel Ieremia (NZ), Doug Klein, Deyen Lawson, John Lyras, Kade McBride, Connor McKinney, Jack Murdoch, Dimitrios Papadatos, Dylan Perry, Aaron Pike, Brett Rumford, Jack Thompson, Nick Voke (NZ), Aaron Wilkin, Peter Wilson

Champions Tour

Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai

Hualalai Golf Course, Hawaii

Australasians in the field: Steven Alker (NZ), Rod Pampling

Defending champion: Miguel Ángel Jiménez

Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1985), Bruce Crampton (1991)

TV times: Live 11am-2pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports 505.

Results

Korn Ferry Tour

The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay

Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Club, Great Exuma, Bahamas

1          Chandler Phillips           69-68-69-68-274

T4        Brett Drewitt    71-72-68-66-277

T40      Curtis Luck        70-68-77-71-286

MC       Rhein Gibson    78-69-147

The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club

The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, Bahamas

Australasians in the field: Brett Drewitt, Curtis Luck, Rhein Gibson

Defending champion: Brandon Harkins

Past Aussie winners: Nil