Rising star Elvis Smylie is looking to join an elite club who have completed the golden summer double before chasing a massive pay-day in South Africa.
The 22-year-old won the Australian PGA Championship last weekend and will attempt the rare feat of also claiming the Australian Open, played at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club, starting Thursday.
The last golfer to achieve the extraordinary feat was Greg Chalmers in 2011, with only nine golfers ever doing the double in the past 95 years, including legends Greg Norman, Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle and Norma Von Nida.
The son of former tennis professionals Peter and Liz, who won Olympic doubles bronze and a swag of doubles majors, Smylie said he'd kept a lid on celebrations to put himself in the best position to win the Open.
"The biggest thing ... is not to get too complacent with what I've achieved so far," the young Queenslander said.
"Obviously, it's been a dream start to the Australian season for me, but there's more that I want to achieve this year.
"There will be a time to celebrate, but for now I'm really looking forward to doing my best here at the Australian Open."
The PGA victory included a two-year exemption on Europe's DP World Tour with Smylie also heading to South Africa early next month for the famous $A9.2 million, 66-player Nedbank Challenge at Sun City.
Previously looking at playing mostly in Australia in 2025, the PGA was a career-changing victory for Smylie, who also won the WA Open title last month.
"I'm going to be trying to play as many events as I can on the European Tour before the end of Christmas then I'll get ready for the Middle East in January," he said.
"I've briefly had a look at the schedule and somewhere that I've always wanted to play is Wentworth over in the UK - I quite like the classiness of that course and it's the home of the European Tour.
"Those kind of events are the events that I'm really looking forward to playing next year."
Smylie played the back nine on Tuesday at Kingston Heath with another tournament favourite, Min Woo Lee, and said he enjoyed the challenge of the sandbelt courses.
"I've played Victoria quite a lot, mostly amateurs, and I played the Australian Open a couple of years back as well on the same course," he said.
"And then Kingston Heath I've played quite a few times as well ... so I'm quite familiar with the course and it's an adjustment, an adapting way of golf that I really like to play.
"I'm really excited to get stuck into the week."
Golfers to have won the Australian PGA/Australian Open double:
Greg Chalmers (2011)
Robert Allenby (2005)
Peter Lonard (2004)
Peter Senior (1989)
Greg Norman (1985)
Peter Thomson (1967)
Kel Nagle (1959)
Norman Von Nida (1950)
Ossie Pickworth (1947)
