However, powered by the “nervous excitement” of playing his first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia event with money on the line, the former amateur star detailed his trip from the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan to Kalgoorlie with a laugh.

“Started in Gotemba, which is about two and a half hours southwest of Tokyo,” said Stubbs ahead of his 7:25am tee time alongside Cameron John and Louis Dobbelaar.

“Then the drive to the airport began, 10 hour flight down to Melbourne at 8:30, overnight, landed at 8:30 in the morning in Melbourne.

“Got into Perth at 1:30pm and then I had five and a half hours there before I got to leave to come here to Kal last night and got in at 7:00pm.

“So it’s over a day of travel. But yeah, it’s worth it to be back here again at the WA PGA.”

Asked whether the long journey had taken a toll before he chases status on his home Tour via tournament invites, Stubbs was upbeat and headed for more practice in the West Australian sun after 14 holes to start the day.

“I’m a pretty good plane sleeper, so I slept like a baby on there, so I’m not too physically exhausted, but the body held up and I’ve sort of done everything I can last night and this morning to get it ready for the next few days,” he said.

Playing the WA PGA for a second time after a share of 50^th in 2023, the Victorian spoke of the anticipation of entering the next stage of a career after his time as an amateur where he claimed the Asia Pacific Amateur at Royal Melbourne and teed it up at The Masters and The Open.

“It’s a little bit sort of like a nervous excitement. It’s a big step,” the 22-year-old said when asked of potential butterflies.

“I have played a lot of professional events, but not with a card on the line or potentially money on the line yet. So it’s sort of going to be different in that respect. But yeah, I’ve played a lot of these events before and I feel pretty at home out here with a lot of these guys.”

Another player who feels right at home, especially this week, is defending champion Ben Eccles, who Stubbs might do well to chat with about the transition from amateur to professional.

Claiming the NSW Open as an amateur back in 2015, Eccles waited eight years before he won again with an emotional victory last year.

“A little bit of a different scenario. He obviously had a lot more success than I did,” the ever modest Eccles said when asked if he had advice for his fellow Victorian.

“I think looking back when I first turned, I sort of thought it was going to be pretty easy and I thought things were always going to be sort of on the up when I turned pro, and that’s definitely not the case.

“So my advice would just be, just take it in as it comes and just keep trying to get better each year and make smart decisions as well.”

Eccles’ words similar in sentiment to the approach to this week that Stubbs has laid out with his team.

“Not really too much of a goal setter of I have to finish in the top 10 to feel like I’ve had a good week,” Stubbs said.

“I’m more just little targets based, little things that I’m doing with my coach and my team back home that we set, little wins that aren’t necessarily a win of the golf tournament that I can feel like I’ve accomplished something here this week.

“On the golf course, just you’ve got to just play as best I can and I know my good golf is really good, so a win isn’t out of the question for me, I don’t think.”

The CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo. 

A graduate of the Qualifying School staged at Moonah Links in April, McLeod joins defending champion Ben Eccles, DP World Tour rookie Haydn Barron, former winners Brett Rumford and Jarryd Felton and 2023/2024 tournament winners Cameron John and Kerry Mountcastle at the CKB WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie Golf Course starting Thursday.

It is a remarkable moment for the 28-year-old who was born profoundly deaf and received his first Cochlear implant when just 11 months old.

McLeod received a second implant for his left ear at the age of 11 and since then has lived a life largely unencumbered by his inability to hear without assistance.

A talented soccer player growing up on Sydney’s northern beaches, McLeod chose to pursue golf as a career, first trying his hand at greenkeeping before undertaking the PGA of Australia’s Membership Pathway Program.

He became a full Vocational Member of the PGA in 2023 and had been working as the Assistant Professional at Mona Vale Golf Club before dedicating himself to playing full-time this year.

It was only at the insistence of Mona Vale Head Professional, Gerard Kelly, that McLeod entered Q School. He finished tied 17th at First Stage and then tied 29th at Final Stage to earn status for the 2024/2025 season.

“The last thing I want is to be five years down the track going, I wish I gave it a go, but that week was so stressful,” McLeod said of his Q School experience.

“I thought I was gone after 12 holes in the last round (of Final Stage).

“One of the boys came up and asked if I’d made par on the last and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me done’.

“He goes, ‘No, you’re in. You’re on the same score as me. You’re in’.

“It didn’t sink in until a couple of days later that I was like, Wow. I’ve got a Tour card. I’m a Tour player.”

To his playing partners this summer, McLeod will present as just another competitor.

With his implants connected to the external units that sit behind his ears, McLeod has 95 per cent hearing in his right ear and 42 per cent hearing in his left.

Background noise is an issue when he works in the Mona Vale pro shop and when he takes them off – in the shower, swimming at the beach and to sleep – he is completely deaf.

Somewhat ironically, the only time McLeod has played golf without his implants was when he played the World Deaf Golf Championship for the first time in 2012… and won by 13 strokes.

“A week before we went my coach said, ‘We’re going to spend every afternoon after school on the golf course without them on’,” McLeod recalled of his first experience playing golf in complete silence.

“It was so different. So different. You lose your balance a little bit, but I think it’s more so relying on feel to know if you’ve hit a good shot.

“And obviously it’s peaceful. You can have a car drive past you and not hear a thing.”

McLeod has played two PGA Tour of Australasia events in the past 18 months through the Associate program prior to attaining his full PGA qualifications and made the cut at the 2021 Queensland Open.

Since obtaining his Tour card, he has played extensively on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, registering top-five finishes at Teven Valley and Ocean Shores and was runner-up at Ballina in August.

It has instilled a sense of confidence that he can enter his rookie season knowing his best golf is more than good enough to compete with the elite of Australian golf.

“At Q School I was going down there to have a crack, whereas after the last couple of results I’ve had, I’m starting to feel more confident that I can play with these guys,” said McLeod.

“The mentality sort of changed a little bit. Now it’s gone from hoping to make cuts to now wanting to win.

“That’s a different mentality I’ve got to have.”

His primary goal this season will be to retain his card, but McLeod knows that he represents something more.

“Just being an example of what we can achieve is a big thing,” he added.

“Losing one of your senses is pretty hard. And I think hearing is probably one of the bad ones that you can lose because you’ve got to communicate.

“Being an example would be a good title to have. We’re all ambassadors in our own right. We’re all trying to promote golf together; we just don’t quite get the recognition that we deserve.”

That might be about to change.