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In-form Victorian Lucas Herbert has compared his move to Cameron Smith's LIV Golf team to being traded into an all-star AFL midfield.
Lucas Herbert feels like he's in an AFL midfield with Nick Daicos, Christian Petracca and Marcus Bontempelli.
That's how the LIV Golf convert described his first year as a Ripper GC teammate of Cameron Smith, Matt Jones and Marc Leishman.
Their tight bond and competitive nature helped net a teams title, before Herbert returned home to claim his first Australian silverware.
After running down pace-setting Smith to win the NSW Open, the 28-year-old enjoyed Sunday night beers with mates at his favourite hometown Bendigo pub, just over the border.
In Brisbane ahead of Thursday's Australian PGA Championship start, Herbert said his new golfing existence was paying off.
"It feels like you've got, you know, Nick Daicos, Christian Petracca and Marcus Bontempelli on your team," he said in a neat reference to the star AFL trio.
"And they genuinely want you to get better, because it does help the team win as well.
"It's not like they're just kind of doing you a favour because they like you.
"I've tried to ask as many questions and pry as much information without annoying the hell out of them.
"It's pretty exciting to see where it potentially leads to in the next few years."
Herbert's only major this year was the PGA Championship and he's flagged his intent to qualify for next year's big four by any means necessary.
Exemptions and order of merit privileges in Brisbane this week and at next week's Australian Open are an obvious route.
He'll also play the NSW Open, January's Webex Player Series at Cobram Barooga and potentially the Asian tour-sanctioned New Zealand Open in February.
Herbert said the competitive juices were still flowing after running down Smith, a three-time Australian PGA Championship winner, at Murray Downs.
"We come back home, and I think Cam said last week we wear the same (Ripper GC) hat, but that's about the only thing that's a team aspect this week," he said.
"Last week we were both pushing each other pretty hard; we weren't sort of too worried about the rest of the field.
"We're competitive every week; we want to beat each other."