And that is only one of the options that could be on the table.

The 26-year-old Melburnian is the living embodiment of the pathways and opportunities that the Tour has worked hard to create in the past two years – when the number of exemptions to play on the DP World Tour were increased from the overall leader to the top three players, along with other bonuses for players inside the top 15 at the end of the season.

At the least he appears close to being safe in the top three, although there are still five tournaments left to play in the season concluding at the start of April.

The most substantial of the exemptions coming from the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour’s Order Of Merit for 2022-23 look like this:

• The leading three players not otherwise eligible who finish inside the top 15 are exempt into Final Stage of DP World Tour Q-School while the top five are exempt into final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-school in the United States.
• There are exemptions into the final stage of Q-school for both the Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour for the top three finishers on the Order of Merit and exemptions into various second stage Q-Schools for those who finish between fourth and 15th.
• The winner of the Order of Merit not only receives a DP World Tour card for the following season but is exempt into the Open Championship in July and 10 players from inside the top 30 are exempt into the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

Micheluzzi actually had an exemption into the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in 2022 as a result of a good Australasian season in 2021-22, but he declined it.

Instead, he focused on finding his way by playing well at home. Aside from his wins in Kalgoorlie and Sydney, he was runner-up at the Vic Open, tied-seventh at the WA Open, tied-eighth at the Queensland PGA, sixth at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, tied-10th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, and tied-third at TPS Victoria.

“I was going to go Korn Ferry (Tour) because I was straight into Korn Ferry. I don’t know if I was going to get into European second stage,” he said on Sunday.

“I was going to get into Dunhill (Links Trophy), so Dunhill was a big trip. I took my coach (Marty Joyce) over and it was quite expensive and this was at a time when I made a bit last season but not a huge amount. If I was going to do Dunhill there was no chance I was going to have enough money to do Korn Ferry.

“I’ve done Q-schools in the past, I’m hopeless at them. I did well at Aussie Q-school just because I know the course really well but I did Korn Ferry Q-school and missed that first stage, I did final stage European in 2019 when I just turned pro and played awful there. I almost came last.

“Just the added pressure of knowing that one week is going to dictate your year, good or bad.

“We’ve got three cards here up for grabs, I’d back myself over a season rather than just one week.

“I stuck to it, that was a goal. I said, ‘I’m going to get my European Tour card. I’m going to win the Order of Merit’. I’m going to miss one event (NZ PGA) but I think it was a pretty good decision in the end.

“My coach, my manager, my parents were all happy for me to do that and here we are.”

The players still have this week’s TPS Hunter Valley, the New Zealand Open with a prize pool of $NZ1.65, the New Zealand PGA Championship, the Play Today NSW Open and The National tournament from 30 March-2 April to complete this season.

Importantly, this is the first season in which the Tour has used points, rather than earnings, to determine the Order Of Merit, a system introduced for more fairness because of the disparity in prize pools among the 16 tournaments.

Players are also required to step in a minimum four tournaments to be eligible for any exemptions flowing from the Order Of Merit, meaning that, for example, Cameron Smith (currently second), Min Woo Lee (fifth) and Adam Scott (sixth) won’t be counted when the spoils are handed out.

But Micheluzzi’s brilliant performances represent a heartwarming time for those who have watched him work through a stellar amateur career, finish top-five in an Australian Open when he was just 22 years of age, but then stall in the early stages of his PGA Professional career as lack of opportunities, poor form and the ravages of the pandemic all impacted upon him. He has earned these moments.

Shooting 61 (with a closing nine of 27) to win the TPS Sydney event on Sunday, he looked like the hottest player on the Tour, yet he is hardly taking a breath for air.

“I’m just going to go flat-out,” he said. “I’m not playing NZ PGA but just go flat-out the next two weeks, try and win both of them.

“Everything feels good, I’ll do some range work tomorrow or Tuesday to fix a couple of things up, maybe mental stuff. I’ll work on that and try and win again next week.”

ORDER OF MERIT UPDATE

Rank Player                         Points   Tournaments

1 David Micheluzzi (Vic)    969.50            11

2 Cameron Smith (Qld)      772.76             2*

3 Andrew Martin (Vic )      652.13             11

4 Tom Power Horan (Vic)  483.15            11

5 Min Woo Lee (WA)         470.00             2*

6 Adam Scott (Qld)           456.05             2*

7 Deyen Lawson (Qld)       417.90           11

8 Michael Hendry (NZ)      401.93             5

9 Jason Scrivener (WA)     401.34            2*

10 Justin Warren (NSW)    311.80             7

*Players must compete in a minimum 4 tournaments to be eligible for relevant exemptions