Guaranteed a place on the DP World Tour for the next two seasons by virtue of his BMW Australian PGA Championship triumph at Royal Queensland, the 22-year-old is now eyeing off one of the PGA TOUR cards given to the top 10 on the Order of Merit at season’s end.

Currently sixth heading into this week’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship where he spent Tuesday playing nine holes with fellow Aussie Jason Scrivener and Kiwi pair Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier, Smylie knows the opportunity in front of him.

“I’m really looking forward to keeping the momentum going,” Smylie told DP World Tour Media.

“I played OK last week in my first Rolex Series event in Dubai. Looking to build on some good momentum here in the Middle East.

“You obviously want to build on some great momentum and at the end of the year, there’s 10 cards up for grabs on the PGA TOUR.

“So that’s very much a goal of mine to try and get in the top ten in the Race to Dubai and getting off to a fast start definitely helps.

“That win back in December in Australia, back home in Brisbane, was life-changing for me, to be able to have the chance now to compete on the DP World Tour for two years and compete against some of the best players in the world.

“It’s only going to help my game moving forward and just being able to travel to some amazing places around the world.”

Helping Smylie make the transition to the top echelon of professional golf is another Aussie looking more and more established on the DP World Tour.

Now in his second year in Europe by virtue of winning the 2022-2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, David Micheluzzi was tied for eighth in Dubai and has become a valuable ally for Smylie.

“Dave Micheluzzi is a good mate of mine and he’s a real bubbly personality,” he said.

“As much as you are competing against them on tour, you’re also competing against the golf course, so whenever I get off the course, I’ll always try and hang out with ‘Micha’ and some of the other Aussies as well.”

Scrivener is the first of the Aussies to tee off this afternoon at 2:10pm AEDT with Micheluzzi off at 3:30pm and Smylie at 7:05pm.