Barron officially began his 2024 DP World Tour season the week after securing a card at the Final Stage of Qualifying School when he teed it up at the co-sanctioned Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

Following a gruelling travel schedule that had him travel to St Andrews, back to Kalgoorlie, back to Spain and then Brisbane, Barron missed the cut at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Sydney a week later.

Now refreshed after a Christmas break, Barron is back on the road and at the Royal Golf Club in the Kingdom of Bahrain eager to make an early impression that will open up further playing opportunities throughout the season.

With Lee now a full member of the PGA TOUR, Barron won’t be able to share practice rounds as they did at The Open Championship last July. He will instead draw upon the experience of a player he says has always been a couple of steps ahead.

“It’s definitely inspiring,” Barron said of Lee’s progression in world golf.

“Growing up with Min, he was always a few rungs ahead of me because I picked it up quite late.

“I was always trying to chase him down but being so close with him and being able to draw on his experiences and speak to him about things that I’m not so certain on definitely helps.”

Barron and Lee both qualified for The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool last year by virtue of their finishes at the 2022 Australian Open.

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It was Barron’s first start in a major championship and said that time spent early in the week with 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick helped to feel comfortable in golf’s top echelon.

“I was fortunate enough to play with Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick on the Monday,” Barron said.

“They were booked in by themselves and Connor McKinney and I decided to jump in and crash their party.

“Playing with Matt – who I think was No.5 in the world – and seeing the way he played and how genuine of a guy he is… I was probably more nervous in the first couple of holes of that practice round than I was during the tournament.

“But after playing with him and seeing that it wasn’t too far away definitely calmed me down a bit.”

Barron will have no shortage of Aussies to bounce ideas off in Bahrain.

Good friends Jason Scrivener and David Micheluzzi are also in the field along with PGA TOUR Q School medallist, Harrison Endycott.

The second Signature event of the PGA TOUR season will see Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cam Davis vying for a slice of the $US20 million prize purse while Lucas Herbert makes his Ripper GC debut at LIV Golf Mayakoba in Mexico.

Photo: Kurt Thomson/Kurtogram

Round 1 tee times AEDT

PGA TOUR
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California
Spyglass Hill
4:33am*           Sahith Theegala, Adam Scott
4:57am            Cam Davis, JT Poston
5:21am            Wyndham Clark, Jason Day

Defending champion: Justin Rose
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1965), Brett Ogle (1993)
TV times: Live 4:30am-11am Friday, Saturday; Live 5am-11am Sunday; Live 5am-10:30am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour
Bahrain Championship
Royal Golf Club, Kingdom of Bahrain, Bahrain
11:10pm*         Nicolas Colsaerts, Matteo Manassero, Harrison Endycott
11:50pm*         David Micheluzzi, Ross Fisher, Freddy Schott
12:10am*         Andrew Wilson, Saud Al Sharif, Sam Jones (NZ)
12:10am          Jacques Kruyswijk, Cole Madey, Haydn Barron
3:10am*           Jens Dantorp, Jason Scrivener, Marcus Armitage

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 7:30pm-12:30am Thursday, Friday; Live 8pm-12:30am Saturday; Live 7:30pm-12:30am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

Korn Ferry Tour
The Panama Championship
Club de Golf de Panama, Panama City, Panama
11:32pm          Brandon Harkins, Dimi Papadatos, Ryan Gerard
12:04am*         Brett Drewitt, Tommy Gainey, Alistair Docherty
4:37am            Curtis Luck, Ryan Armour, Ryan Blaum
4:48am            Rhein Gibson, Jared Wolfe, Cooper Dossey
5:19am*           T.J. Vogel, KK Limbhasut, Charlie Hillier (NZ)

Defending champion: Pierceson Coody
Past Aussie winners: Mathew Goggin (2011, 2015)

LIV Golf
LIV Golf Mayakoba
El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Aussies in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Lucas Herbert.

Defending champion: Charles Howell III
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live from 4:15am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on 7 Plus.

Challenge Tour
SDC Open
Zebula Golf Estate & Spa, Limpopo, South Africa
4:40pm *          Wynand Dingle, Björn Akesson, Hayden Hopewell,

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil