There’s more than a Mars Bar at stake this week.

Days after Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson faced off for a $US9 million prize purse, Jake McLeod and Anthony Quayle will resume a long-standing rivalry that was at its fiercest during their later years at high school.

Back then a Mars Bar they couldn’t afford was deemed a rich reward.

This week a life-changing opportunity to play one of the world’s most lucrative tours goes on the line.

Room-mates at the famed Hills International School that also put the finishing touches on the games of Jason Day and Adam Scott, McLeod and Quayle are currently first and third on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit heading into the final event of the year, the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

Co-sanctioned with the European Tour, a win would earn either of them exemption onto one of the world’s richest tours while the player crowned the 2018 Order of Merit winner will also earn European Tour status for the next 12 months.

It’s a far cry from their high school days just a few years ago but according to Quayle those early battles on the fairways had all the intensity that will be on display over 72 holes this week.

“At high school we didn’t have any money so we probably played for a Mars Bar here and there that we would somehow get for free out of the pro shop,” Quayle recalled ahead of his Australian PGA Championship debut.

“It was pretty even out there,” added McLeod. “We used to try and not go head-to-head too much; we’d try and take on all the other kids and take all their money.

“We used to take a bit of their money too which was good.”

“Nowadays we might go out and have a $20 game, something like that,” said Quayle.

“I played with him at Royal Queensland which is his home course and we played off the back tees. I think the course record might be 6-under and I shot 4-under which I thought was pretty good and he went out and shot 7-under and got me by three.

“He got my $20 that day.”

“I was pretty happy with that. It was nice to get a free steak burger out of him,” McLeod joked.

Hailing from Townsville and Gove in the Northern Territory respectively before arriving at Hills, McLeod and Quayle have both enjoyed breakout seasons as professionals.

McLeod recently recorded his first win as a professional at the AV Jennings NSW Open while Quayle retained his playing privileges on the Japan Golf Tour after registering five top-25 finishes that included a runner-up at The Crowns in his rookie year.

A Gold Coast local, Quayle would love nothing more than to emulate McLeod’s recent triumph at Twin Creeks Golf and Country Club and record his first win as a professional in front of family and friends, using his good mate’s success partly as motivation.

“Firstly, I’m pumped for him, I couldn’t be happier for him,” said Quayle, who along with Aaron Wilkin stayed around to shower McLeod with champagne on the 18th green to help celebrate his NSW Open win.

“You see one of your good mates that excited and that happy and achieve something that’s pretty hard to achieve so I was just really excited for him.

“Afterwards you see that he’s winning and you have the golfer in you that wants to be doing the same thing.

“I think it’s a pretty healthy thing to have. There’s a bit of one-upmanship so I think a win this week might just clip him and then he would probably be feeling the same thing moving forward and trying to one-up me again down the track.”

Currently $14,491 ahead of second-placed Daniel Nisbet on the Order of Merit and $45,549 clear of third-placed Quayle, in the space of two tournaments McLeod has quickly gone from the hunter to the hunted.

The 24-year-old shot 66 in the final round of the Emirates Australian Open to finish third and knows that a successful week at Royal Pines has the potential to significantly impact his career.

“I had a look (at the Order of Merit) after the Aussie Open to see what was going on but I tried not to look at it after that. Everyone knows what’s going on there,” McLeod said.

“Hopefully it doesn’t change what I do this week. I’ve got full status on the Asian Tour next year, which is good, but you still feel a bit of pressure around the opportunity to get a European Tour card.

“The top two spots get the two WGC events as well which is obviously a bonus.

“There’s a few Mars Bars on the line this week that’s for sure.”

The 2019 Australian PGA Championship will be played from 19-22 December at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

A revision in scheduling will see the tournament close out the Australian summer of golf the week after the President’s Cup.

Since it’s move to the Gold Coast, the Australian PGA Championship has established itself as a festival of golf with a celebratory atmosphere which has been aided by its scheduling as the last event of the year.

Based on discussions with key tournament stakeholders including co-sanctioning partner, the European Tour, it was decided to close out the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia season with the Australian PGA Championship resulting in the change of date from that previously announced in November 2018.

“The Australian PGA Championship, when it is played from 19-22 December, will top off a huge three weeks of golf in Australia when it follows the Emirates Australian Open and The Presidents Cup,” said Gavin Kirkman, CEO of the PGA of Australia.

“The Australian PGA Championship has been embraced by the players and sports fans for its fun atmosphere and we feel that it is important for it to be the final tournament of the year for us to deliver that experience expectation.”

The Australian PGA Championship week will begin with the Greg Norman Medal dinner on the Tuesday night where the highest achievers in the Australian golf industry are heralded for their accomplishments.

The fun then continues with the MyGolf Kids Day and the 16^th Hole Marquee party but the later date opens up the opportunity for people to enjoy Christmas celebrations at the golf. Going to a new level this year, additional festive activations will be added to the entertainment and corporate hospitality line-up in 2019.

While the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour players battle it out on course for the Joe Kirkwood Cup, the local Order of Merit race will also come to a conclusion with the winner of the Norman Von Nida Medal to be awarded following the Australian PGA Championship’s conclusion.

The ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit provides a plethora of opportunities to the winner including full status on the European Tour, a start at The Open and various World Golf Championship tournaments.

“We have seen some thrilling conclusions to the Australian PGA Championship and the Order of Merit in recent years and feel that the atmosphere created on the Gold Coast is the perfect setting for them to be celebrated,” added Kirkman.

“This was one of the motivating factors in the change of date.”

The Queensland Government, via Tourism and Events Queensland, is proud to support the Australian PGA Championship which features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Your perfect next event is in Queensland where live events combine with the most incredible destinations, and life is beautiful one day, perfect the next.

The Australian PGA Championship will be played at RACV Royal Pines Resort from 19 – 22 Dec with general admission to the Australian PGA Championship $25* when purchased at the gate or via Ticketmaster with children, 16 and under, granted free admission when attending with a paying adult.

If hospitality is more your style, a number of different options are also available, for details please visit pgachampionship.com.au.

Second year professional Anthony Quayle hopes to use the lessons learnt by spending time with Adam Scott to assume the mantle as the leading local hope at the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

Players will begin their preparations in their pursuit of the Joe Kirkwood Cup from Monday with Quayle using the disappointment of missing the cut at the Emirates Australian Open to undertake some early reconnaissance at the Graham Marsh-designed layout.

Like Scott, Quayle is based at Sanctuary Cove but will make his Australian PGA Championship debut this week in front of an armada of family and friends.

First alternate two years ago when still an amateur, Quayle missed the 2017 tournament won by Cameron Smith as he locked up a Japan Golf Tour card at Final Stage of Qualifying School and enters the 2018 PGA in position to claim the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

Runner-up at the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways where he played the final round alongside South African legend Ernie Els, Quayle played a practice round with Scott at the Japan Open in October and paid close attention to how the World Number 41 prepared.

“I’ve had a few conversations with him and tried to pick his brain a little bit,” Quayle said of his relationship with Scott.

“I played a practice round with him at the Japan Open a few weeks ago.

“When we had the practice round there wasn’t any one piece of advice but just watching how he went about his business.

“How he practised, the level of professionalism in that he had with the way he went about things. He had his coach and his caddie there and they were really trying to get a solid game plan for the week.

“It was just his whole demeanour and how he carried himself, it’s something that sets the standard for all of us trying to do the same.

“He’s just a great guy, really welcoming, real forthcoming with information of how to help the younger generation.

“He’s a fantastic role model for everyone our age and younger and on and off the course just a great guy.”

When Scott completed his Masters coronation with victory at the 2013 Australian PGA Championship, Quayle was a 19-year-old aspiring golfer who was among the thousands who watched from outside the ropes.

Australia’s World Cup representatives Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith will headline this week’s PGA field with Quayle defending the decision by Scott to skip both the Australian Open and PGA this summer.

Quickly coming to terms with juggling a playing schedule – Quayle has already had to change the date of his wedding next year to fit in with the Australian Open in December – the 24-year-old represents an exciting generation of players eager to follow in Scott’s footsteps.

“From a player’s perspective he’s given a lot back to Australian golf over the past 20 years,” said Quayle, a nominee for the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year at the Greg Norman Medal dinner on Tuesday night.

“He’s at the point where he has to start looking after his own body and his own schedule.

“I don’t think it’s like that he’ll never play an Aussie event again, just at the moment that’s what he has to do and that’s fair enough.”

Third on the Order of Merit behind fellow Queenslanders Jake McLeod and Daniel Nisbet, the equation for Quayle is simple if he hopes to finish the week on top and claim not only a maiden professional win but also a one-year membership on the lucrative European Tour.

“To win the Order of Merit I probably have to finish top three. Outside of top three and I don’t think there’s a chance,” he said.

“The goal going into the week is just to try and win the golf tournament. Obviously if I do that then I don’t have to worry about what anybody else does.

“If I go in there playing as well as I can and controlling my emotions I think I should be a decent chance.”