Winning on either the European Tour or the PGA TOUR is an accomplishment to be celebrated in and of itself but it is rare that two Australians achieve both on the same date on the calendar.

That Victorian products Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert did so on Australia Day in California and Dubai just hours apart will etch them into Australian golf folklore forever.

When Herbert dropped a shot on the opening hole of his final round he was sitting seven shots from the top of the leaderboard yet he fought back to shoot 68 and post a tournament total of 9-under, a total that would lead to a breakthrough European Tour title at the second hole of a playoff.

Nine hours later and four shots back when he began his round, Leishman completed the double with a one-stroke victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, the fifth PGA TOUR title of his career.

Coming just a fortnight after Wade Ormsby and Cameron Smith won on the same day on the Asian Tour and PGA TOUR respecively on opposite sides of the globe, the last time two Aussies won concurrent events on golf’s two largest tours was August 25, 2002.

On that day a precocious 22-year-old talent by the name of Adam Scott claimed his third European Tour title at the Diageo Scottish PGA Championship while veteran Craig Parry shot 65 on the final day – the same score as Leishman in California – to take out the WGC-NEC Invitational at Sahalee Country Club in Washington.

Shortly after taking possession of a trophy that he has been eyeing off ever since attending the Callaway World Junior at Torrey Pines as a 17-year-old, Leishman spoke of his admiration for Herbert’s win and how Aussie success dating back to Scott’s Australian PGA Championship win provided additional motivation to win himself.

“I saw Lucas won this morning when I woke up. Really happy for him, he’s a great player and I’m sure he’ll be over here soon,” said Leishman, recording his first win since the CIMB Classic in October 2018.

“Obviously excited for myself, it’s a tournament I’ve wanted to win for a lot of years. There are so many great names on that trophy and I’m pretty proud to be one of those now.

“I’m great friends with both of them (Adam Scott and Cameron Smith). Seeing them lift a trophy, it makes you want to work harder and have it be you.

“Glad it’s two weeks later after Cam and I’m sure this will give him some motivation to want to do it again too.

“Hopefully we can drag each other along this year and win a few more.”

Top five in three events in his European Tour rookie year in 2018, Herbert was almost in shock at joining a growing list of Aussie winners in 2020.

“If I’m part of that club, that’s a pretty good club to be a part of,” said Herbert, projected to rise some 140 spots to around 80th in the world with his Dubai title.

“We’ve got some great players obviously playing and we are pretty well populated on tours around the world.

“It’s always great to see us Aussie guys succeeding, playing well, winning.

“We all get behind each other so I’m glad I could add to that list.”

Although it’s taken close to 20 years for Australians to win PGA TOUR and European Tour events on the same day, there is a history of Aussies winning in bunches.

In 2016 four Aussie men won six tournaments in the space of six weeks, the extraordinary run of green and gold dominance starting with Marcus Fraser’s victory at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia on February 21.

A week later Adam Scott secured the first of back-to-back wins at The Honda Classic, Scott Hend won the European Tour’s True Thailand Classic on March 13 and Jason Day then got in on the action, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play in consecutive weeks.

And it didn’t end there, Minjee Lee claiming her second LPGA Tour title at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii three weeks later.

Two years earlier John Senden (Valspar Championship), Karrie Webb (JTBC Founders Cup), Steven Bowditch (Valero Texas Open) and Matt Jones (Shell Houston Open) delivered Aussie victories in four straight weeks while in 2010 Fraser sparked another flood of Aussie success when he claimed the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea on April 25, Scott and Day winning the Valero Texas Open and Byron Nelson Invitational in successive weeks from May 16.

2020 Aussie Honour Roll

January 12           Wade Ormsby    Hong Kong Open (Asian Tour)

January 12           Cameron Smith  Sony Open (PGA TOUR)

January 26           Lucas Herbert     Omega Dubai Desert Classic (European Tour)

January 26           Marc Leishman  Farmers Insurance Open (PGA TOUR)