Whenever you throw a “Supergroup” tag on three golfers, you always know deep down there is one with more superstar lustre than the others.

On a rare occasion, it never played out that way in the opening round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club on Thursday.

All offered magnetic highlights as they harvested 16 birdies in all to keep fans cheering impartially.

The gallery swelled to more than 1,500 during the march of Day (67), 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith (67) and defending Australian PGA champion Min Woo Lee (68).

At times, it was like watching the one composite golfer you imagined the trio could blend into becoming with a little DNA engineering.

When Lee smote his opening drive 30 metres past his playing partners you instantly wanted his driver game.

When he lasered short irons or bump-and-runs to close range during his three birdies through the opening four holes, you wanted to copy that momentum gear of his.

When Smith fashioned his two front nine birdies with exquisite chip shots, you again wanted to plug that trait into your dream golfer.

Then there was Day. He was the one nailing the longer birdie putts and staying composed throughout without a bogey on his card.

It was just good to see him at close range on a course in his home state again.

We love seeing you home @JDayGolf 🇦🇺🤝#AusPGA pic.twitter.com/OlNGtfTJUU

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) November 21, 2024

He hadn’t played at RQ since before the second span of the Gateway Bridge was opened. That’s pre-2010. Is it that long?

He dived into two meat pies from a local bakery before 8am when he landed in Brisbane this week. Too long, he joked.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here, so wasn’t not too sure how things would unfold,” Day commented post-round.

“But it’s been great. The crowds have been fantastic and seeing a lot of junior golfers out there.

“It’s fun. It’s only going to get bigger and better as the week progresses.”

Now 37, his last Queensland appearance was a joint ninth at the Australian PGA at the then-Hyatt Coolum in the week after the 2011 Presidents Cup.

If you are a golf fan, you want to see shots you can never dream of. OK, Lee smoting the ball a ridiculous distance down the 18th fairway is sort of standard brilliance for him.

One fan, Bundamba’s Toby Evers, made his support obvious. He’d made his own MinWoozy T-shirt with “ball speed of 9000” on the back.

If we are talking elite shots, it’s also Day being stuck right off the tee in the trees and mud on his 14th hole, the par-4 fifth.

Given a ruling and a better lie, Day punched a low bullet from the mud into the greenside bunker. As easy as you like, he flipped a shot from the firm sand to close range. Par. Nods of appreciation everywhere.

Scorecards always do a serious disservice to pars. Some of the best golf a pro plays is to salvage par from such precarious situations.

You hear quirky background stories years later in many cases. Day told the PGA Awards dinner earlier in the week that he didn’t touch a can of Coke for two years around that period he became world No.1.

Cam Smith out here doing Cam Smith things.

Brilliant pitch from 60 metres out sets up birdie at 15 and the three-time champ is in red figures.#AusPGA | @bmwau | @visitbrisbane pic.twitter.com/vffIjzBWhX

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) November 20, 2024

We’re hearing Smith’s diligent approach to this summer and 2025 has some similar hallmarks of discipline.

The definition of “Supergroup” spawned from the music industry when stars already with fame as solo artists came together.

You know, the Traveling Wilburys type of thing in the late 1980s when Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty came together.

Golf has had its fair share at big Aussie tournaments since the halcyon days of the late 1970s and ‘80s when Jack Nicklaus and a young Greg Norman might be paired at an Australian Open or a Nick Faldo or Seve Ballesteros came out for a big event.

Day has been in plenty himself. In 2011, it was hard not to follow the Day-Tiger Woods-Robert Allenby group for the opening two rounds of the Australian Open at The Lakes.

In 2013 at Royal Sydney, Adam Scott shot a glorious course record 62 beside Day and American Kevin Streelman at the Australian Open.

For riveting two-balls, few have been bigger than the Scott v Rickie Fowler final group showdown for the 2013 Australian PGA at Royal Pines when the Australian was fresh off his drought-breaking Masters triumph.

It’s funny. Tournament organisers grapple with a conundrum every time they calculate who to pair in the opening two rounds.

You can split stars so one is the glow for the morning field and the other is the magnet for afternoon audiences.

You then run the risk of 2014. Organisers didn’t pair Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy for the opening two rounds at the Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club. The two marquee players didn’t play together at all in that event.

Australian PGA organisers bit the bullet a few years ago and played their trumps up front with a Scott-Smith pairing first thing on Thursday’s opening morning so they were the guaranteed TV talent on Friday afternoon’s broadcast.

Those who got up early in Brisbane for the 6:10am tee time enjoyed the same treat with Day, Smith and Lee together.

There’s every chance we’ll be hearing a lot more from one of them by Sunday afternoon.