After narrowly missing a final round berth at the season-opening ISPS HANDA Vic Open, the former PGA TOUR Series-China competitor will implement lessons learned from the experience at Pelican Waters Golf Club this week.

“I thought my game levelled up and I was right there. I gave myself a chance to make the final day and unfortunately just missed out by a shot but that’s the way golf goes,” Toomey said of his experience at the European Tour co-sanctioned Vic Open.

“It was wicked. It was my first European Tour event. That’s sort of like a milestone in itself for me which is always nice to tick off.”

“It was pretty cool being in the company of players like Haotong Li and paired with Lucas Herbert for the first couple of rounds. I played plenty with him as a junior but seeing him win just a couple of weeks before that just makes it all seem very real and very achievable.”

A strong start to the season on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia could propel Toomey up the Order of Merit leaderboard and give the Kiwi a chance at a his goal of a European Tour card for future seasons.

The experience of playing alongside Europe’s best, the start courtesy of his Q-School win, proved invaluable. 

“I think I was right there to be fair. I think one thing that’s recurring no matter what level you are, whenever you’re playing that next level up it’s really easy to pedestal other players. And as soon as you do that it’s like you’re handing the tournament over before you even start,” he said.

“I’ve been reminded enough times I think as I’ve progressed that you have to take that kind of back seat at times in order to take on new knowledge and learn and adopt a growth mindset around it.

“It’d be like being paired with Tiger Woods and being solely in your own world and never taking a moment to learn anything but at the same time you can’t sit back and just be in awe of what’s going on around you. There’s still a job to do and achieve yourself. That was probably a bit mindset goal for me.”

This week Toomey will put his game, and mindset, to the test alongside 132 of Australasia’s best when he tees it up alongside Blake Windred and amateur Ben Stieler at 11:40am (AEST) tomorrow.

With family close by and warm weather on offer on the Sunshine Coast, the opportunity to play was hard to resist. 

“My family live about an hour away in North Lake which is the big thing for me this week is just having a week with them because I don’t get to see them all that often,” he said.

“It’ll be a very new challenge this week. I arrived into the airport and walked out the front doors and just about fell over in the heat wave so it’s going to be steamy and sweaty and gross. 

“Yet a golf course is a golf course and they all require the same golf shots.”

Round one of the Isuzu Queensland Open will begin at 6:30am on Thursday 20 February at Pelican Waters Golf Club. Entry is free for spectators all week.

In addition to the winner’s share of the $137,500 prize purse, the champion will receive Official World Golf Ranking points and full exemption onto the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia until the end of the 2021 season.

For round one tee times visit pga.org.au.