Inverell’s Brett Drewitt begins his PGA TOUR career this week when he tees up at the season opening Safeway Open, one of eight Australians beginning their year in California.

Drewitt earned his card for the 2016/17 wraparound season via the recent Web.com Tour finals, his start this week is the culmination of three years of hard work.

The 25-year-old began his journey to the world’s most competitive circuit in China in 2014 and has steadily worked his way to achieving a lifelong dream.

A third place finish on the Order of Merit in the PGA Tour China’s inaugural year propelled Drewitt to the Web.com Tour for 2015 where he managed to keep his card for this season>

While he struggled for much of the year, a second place finish at the BMW Charity Pro-Am kept him inside the top 75 and qualified him for the finals where a T5 finish at the third of four events earned him his card.

Drewitt now begins the next phase of his career where keeping his PGA TOUR card for next season would be a big success.

He joins fellow graduates Cameron Smith and Rod Pampling in the field as well as seasoned campaigners Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, John Senden, Steven Bowditch and Geoff Ogilvy.

Ogilvy is playing on a career money list exemption after finishing outside the top 125 on the 2016 FedEx Cup standings while both Aaron Baddeley and Greg Chalmers won tournaments in 2016 to earn full status.

Queensland’s Steven Bowditch, who endured a horror season in 2016, will be looking for a fresh start and has the best record of the Australians teeing up this week.

The two-time TOUR winner finished runner-up here last year before beginning to struggle but is off to a positive start already, making an ace during a practice round.

Bowditch tweeted a photo of himself and good friend Boo Weekley from the course overnight saying: "One thing worse than having a hole–in-one on Tuesday. Making it against Boo Weekley!"

Stuart Appleby, Cameron Percy and Matt Jones are all listed as alternates for the event though seem unlikely to earn starts.