One is on his first trip Down Under while the other is simply happy to be home as first players took to Royal Queensland Golf Club on Monday ahead of the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship starting Thursday.

In his long-awaited return to Queensland, former world No.1 Jason Day was one of the earliest on course on Monday morning, defending champion Min Woo Lee still en route after finishing tied for 24th at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday.

American Harry Higgs spent last week in Melbourne familiarising himself with the famed sandbelt while West Australian Haydn Barron cancelled his plans to play the Monday qualifier at Wynnum Golf Club after receiving one of the last two tournament invites on Sunday night.

Higgs achieved social media infamy when he and Joel Dahmen ripped their shirts off at the 16th hole at the Phoenix Open in 2022 in celebration of Higgs making par.

If he was to make a hole-in-one at the Dabble Party Hole at RQ on Saturday, fans in attendance will share in $1 million, Higgs promising to make it a moment to remember.

“There’s no telling what I would do,” Higgs said of a million-dollar hole-in-one.

“I have been a staunch, I’m never doing it again, and I feel pretty confident that I wouldn’t now…

“A million-dollar hole-in-one and then just a hole-in-one in general, I can’t say for sure that I would keep that promise that I would never ever do it again.”

Headed back to the PGA TOUR in 2025 after a two-win season on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, Higgs also means business in his Australian debut.

The 32-year-old played both Kingston Heath and Victoria last week in preparation for the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and is ready to test his game in what he compared to major championship atmosphere.

“This week and next week I’m playing two major championships,” said Higgs.

“To see the folks that have basically, not noticed me, but maybe noticed me carrying my golf clubs through the hotels or whatnot, these two events are a big deal to them, so they should be a big deal to me.

“And it’s nice to travel to a different part of the world, play a little different golf and just see how you stack up and certainly play against still some phenomenal, phenomenal golfers.”

Barron is back at Royal Queensland after a rookie season on the DP World Tour that exposed him to every element of professional golf.

He narrowly missed out on retaining full playing rights at Qualifying School in Spain last week and was grateful to receive the invite that Lucas Herbert no longer needed after winning the Ford NSW Open at Murray Downs.

“I went and walked Wynnum yesterday and had a look around and kind of tried to get my head around a few of the tee shots,” said Barron.

“It looked pretty quirky but I managed to get the call-up last night, so straight in and straight here today, which is nice.”

The 28-year-old’s best finish in 2024 was a tie for ninth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and he will likely spend the majority of 2025 on the secondary Challenge Tour.

It’s why two tournaments on home soil to start the 2025 DP World Tour season present such a unique opportunity.

“I’m not going to get a whole lot of opportunity on main tour now. It’s going to be predominantly Challenge Tour,” said Barron, whose best finish at Royal Queensland was a tie for 12th when Jed Morgan won in January 2022.

“Hopefully you can get some points up these next couple of weeks and try and make something happen.”

For BMW Australian PGA Championship tickets, go to ticketek.com.au

The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland’s Major Events Program and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.