Still with a two year winner’s exemption category following his victory at The National PGA Classic in 2022, Ackerman packed his bags and headed for warmer weather. The added benefits of a reunion with friends and competitive golf, including this week’s Webex Players Series Hunter Valley, a major draw card.

“It’s cool to be able to come back and enjoy the outdoors, not have to be cooped up inside when it is raining 10 inches a day,” he said at Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort.

“Honestly, I love playing out here and I was looking to find some form going into the middle part of 2024, because playing at your home course each day not competing, doesn’t really do much for you.”

Realising the competitive benefits of playing throughout the southern summer, Ackerman also knows of potential pathways to other Tours from playing well in Australia and New Zealand, while he is part of a growing regular presence of international players playing week in, week out.

One of three Americans in the mixed field this week in the Hunter Valley, alongside Kayla Thompson and Kyle Fraser, Ackerman and the U.S. contingent are part of 16 nations at the final Webex Players Series event for the 2023/24 season.

The San Francisco native who plays out of the famed Lake Merced Golf Club, doing his bit to perhaps drive more international flavour in future seasons at these events.

“I’ve tried to convince some guys to come out here and play as well. I think a lot of people are scared of the distance of playing in the States and here,” he joked.

“I know a lot of guys tend to play mini Tours back home, rather than come out here. But I think getting used to a full playing schedule on a worldwide recognised Tour is probably more important than to go and do pay to plays back home.

“I would love there to be more Americans out here, but I am totally fine with it just being myself.”

Part of Ackerman’s comfort this week has come with the annual embrace of his favourite sport outside golf.

A die hard San Francisco 49ers fan, Ackerman came up to the Hunter Valley region early Monday morning to watch his team in the NFL’s Superbowl, only to end the day disappointed after his side went down to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.

“Was pulling for my Niners that whole day, that tough stretch coming down, I just think Mahomes is too good … But I have faith in my Niners, they’ll win next year,” he said.

While his team might get their chance in 2025, Ackerman’s sporting focus now well and truly falls on his own performance and perhaps a continuation of the overseas dominance of the Webex Players Series events in 2024 after New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori’s hat-trick completed last week at Castle Hill Country Club.

The mix of holes requiring aggression and strategic golf at this week’s venue part of the overall appeal of golf on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for the tall right hander.

“I think coming out here, experiencing some different conditions, different types of courses, it’s honestly really important in kind of seeing where my game is at.

“Really enjoy the people out here as well, so it has kind of become like a second home. It’s nice to come back here and play a season.”