In his long-awaited return to Queensland, former world No.1 Jason Day was one of the earliest on course on Monday morning, defending champion Min Woo Lee still en route after finishing tied for 24th at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday.

American Harry Higgs spent last week in Melbourne familiarising himself with the famed sandbelt while West Australian Haydn Barron cancelled his plans to play the Monday qualifier at Wynnum Golf Club after receiving one of the last two tournament invites on Sunday night.

Higgs achieved social media infamy when he and Joel Dahmen ripped their shirts off at the 16th hole at the Phoenix Open in 2022 in celebration of Higgs making par.

If he was to make a hole-in-one at the Dabble Party Hole at RQ on Saturday, fans in attendance will share in $1 million, Higgs promising to make it a moment to remember.

“There’s no telling what I would do,” Higgs said of a million-dollar hole-in-one.

“I have been a staunch, I’m never doing it again, and I feel pretty confident that I wouldn’t now…

“A million-dollar hole-in-one and then just a hole-in-one in general, I can’t say for sure that I would keep that promise that I would never ever do it again.”

Headed back to the PGA TOUR in 2025 after a two-win season on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, Higgs also means business in his Australian debut.

The 32-year-old played both Kingston Heath and Victoria last week in preparation for the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and is ready to test his game in what he compared to major championship atmosphere.

“This week and next week I’m playing two major championships,” said Higgs.

“To see the folks that have basically, not noticed me, but maybe noticed me carrying my golf clubs through the hotels or whatnot, these two events are a big deal to them, so they should be a big deal to me.

“And it’s nice to travel to a different part of the world, play a little different golf and just see how you stack up and certainly play against still some phenomenal, phenomenal golfers.”

Barron is back at Royal Queensland after a rookie season on the DP World Tour that exposed him to every element of professional golf.

He narrowly missed out on retaining full playing rights at Qualifying School in Spain last week and was grateful to receive the invite that Lucas Herbert no longer needed after winning the Ford NSW Open at Murray Downs.

“I went and walked Wynnum yesterday and had a look around and kind of tried to get my head around a few of the tee shots,” said Barron.

“It looked pretty quirky but I managed to get the call-up last night, so straight in and straight here today, which is nice.”

The 28-year-old’s best finish in 2024 was a tie for ninth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and he will likely spend the majority of 2025 on the secondary Challenge Tour.

It’s why two tournaments on home soil to start the 2025 DP World Tour season present such a unique opportunity.

“I’m not going to get a whole lot of opportunity on main tour now. It’s going to be predominantly Challenge Tour,” said Barron, whose best finish at Royal Queensland was a tie for 12th when Jed Morgan won in January 2022.

“Hopefully you can get some points up these next couple of weeks and try and make something happen.”

For BMW Australian PGA Championship tickets, go to ticketek.com.au

The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland’s Major Events Program and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.

Lee returns to Royal Queensland Golf Club this week ranked No.46 in the Official World Golf Ranking but without a win in the past 12 months.

Lee’s three-shot win at RQ last year was one of the most electrifying displays from an Aussie on home soil since Adam Scott’s masterful summer in 2013, the ‘Let him cook’ calling card bringing its own sense of expectation among fans.

Given his experience playing with Lee first on the DP World Tour and the past two years on the PGA TOUR, Perez believes it is only a matter of time before the 26-year-old solidifies his place as one of the world’s best.

“He has got incredible length, which obviously plays a massive strength in his game,” said Perez, who returns to the Australian PGA for the first time since 2018 ranked No.74 in the world.

“He’s got really good hands around the greens so he is kind of the total package.

“Sometimes people have really high expectations and I always want their guy to break through and get on the front of the scene and stuff like that, but it’s not like the guys he’s playing against aren’t good either.

“Sometimes a bit of patience goes a long way when it comes to breaking through.

“I don’t think he needs to particularly do anything different than what he’s currently doing and obviously experience is only going to add to his package.”

Few players will appreciate what Perez himself experienced at Le Golf National in August.

With enormous and patriotic galleries flanking the fairways, Perez had the honour of hitting the first tee shot of the men’s Olympic golf competition.

Four days later he had the French faithful frothing at the prospect of an Olympic medal, shooting 29 on the back nine to fall an agonisingly one shot shy of a medal playoff.

“It was an incredible experience. I don’t think the players, and me included, expected quite the turnout that it was,” said Perez.

“It was great for golf in general to give people hope and a chance. Obviously, I was making a run on the back nine and feeling like it was worth watching and following the French guy; it was obviously really biased towards me.

“It was really, really fun and just a great experience besides the fourth-place finish.”

The 32-year-old will spend the majority of 2025 on the PGA TOUR for the second consecutive year, the lure of a Ryder Cup debut looming large in the distance.

While reluctant to project that far forward, Perez admits that banking some DP World Tour points in Australia the next two weeks could be crucial in reaching his ultimate goal.

“I’ve been doing this enough now to know that it’s not something you can get in January, February, March, and even in April, May, June,” said Perez, who spent 10 days in Sydney with his Australian wife’s family and a week in Melbourne prior to arriving in Brisbane on Sunday.

“You’ve just got to keep playing and then kind of just see where the chips fall.

“It’s obviously going to be a big talking point, but having been in that loop twice already, I know what you’re supposed to do; I just haven’t been able to do it the last couple of times.

“This would be kind of a start of DP World, an opportunity to get some points on the board early when some of the guys are resting.

“There’s plenty of things coming that good performances are going to bring along so there’s lot to play for sure.”

For BMW Australian PGA Championship tickets, go to ticketek.com.au

The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland’s Major Events Program and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.

Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Signing for the low round of the day, a 4-under 67, Herbert finished the championship at 15-under, with the entire final group of Alex Simpson, Corey Lamb and Cameron Smith all tied second at 12-under.

The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit leader Jack Buchanan and Kiwi Josh Geary sharing fifth on 9-under, while four players found themselves in a tie for seventh another shot further back.

In his first round of the week separated from his mate and Ripper GC captain Smith, Herbert was able to set the pace in the penultimate group as he went about making up ground early.

An unsuccessful equipment change on Saturday meant Herbert’s trusty putter was back in the bag, and it didn’t let him down, pouring in three birdies on his opening nine, including back-to-back on eight and nine.

“To be honest I was struggling with the putter all week,” he said. “I really didn’t feel comfortable the first two rounds, especially over left or right putts.

“Went to the putting green after the round on Friday and we knew then we were going to switch putters for the next day, unfortunately it looked like I was holding a rattlesnake out there for a while.

“Came off the course, grabbed the other one. I reckon I hit two putts and was like, yep, this is going back in tomorrow, and it just felt incredibly better.”

With Smith making two bogeys and turning in 1-over, Herbert had drawn level with the major champion, and the shootout he predicted – and hoped for – came to fruition, albeit in separate groups.

With another birdie on 13, Herbert stood tall as the outright leader for the first time on Sunday, and never looked back, steadily coming home in even-par from there as Smith and others misfired on the bid to catch him.

“I just set my expectations in the right places. Dom (Azzopardi) and I said walking to the first tee, like 2-under today is going to be a great score, hitting shots on the range and they’re getting smashed sideways,” Herbert said referencing Sunday’s strong winds.

“You just had to take your chances when you could get one close and then just scramble for pars as well as you could at all other opportunities.”

Already a PGA TOUR and DP World Tour winner, this is remarkably Herbert’s first win in Australia, and while it comes across the river in New South Wales and not his home state of Victoria, the proximity to Bendigo makes this one extra special for him.

“Very, very special to win in front of all my friends from Bendigo, some family in there as well,” he said

“To beat Cam starting four shots back on Sunday. Yeah, pretty special feeling.

“I was thinking that today a little, maybe a couple of times I let my mind slip a little bit and I was like, ‘geez, I’ve never won a Tour event in Australia’, like something of this stature. So very, very cool to tick that one off the list.”

With the first Aussie win under his belt, Herbert has his sights firmly on the next two weeks as he heads to the BMW Australian PGA Championship, and then onto the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

“The next two weeks are going to be stronger fields, tougher golf courses,” he said.

“I’m going to have to be sharper with the game, but we’re definitely on the right track if we’re producing the results we had this week.”

Photo: Golf NSW.