Haydn Barron keen to take advantage of Australian PGA Championship berth

A Perth golfer is hoping for a form turnaround after securing an Australian PGA Championship invitation.

Haydn Barron intends to make the most of his unexpected Australian PGA Championship invitation after failing to secure his DP World Tour card for next year.

The 28-year-old Perth golfer had been preparing to contest Monday’s tournament qualifying event at Wynnum before getting some good news on Sunday night when he received the invite that had been given to Lucas Herbert.

Herbert’s weekend win in the NSW Open meant that he no longer required an invitation to play at Royal Queensland this week.

“I walked Wynnum (on Sunday) and had a look around and tried to get my head around a few of the tee shots – it looked pretty quirky,” Barron said on Monday.

“But I managed to get the call up (on Sunday) night, so straight in and straight here, which is nice.”

It has been a tough couple of weeks for Barron, who failed to retain his DP World Tour Card after falling short by a couple of shots at the qualifying school in Spain.

Haydn Barron plans to make the most of his Australian PGA Championship invitation. Picture: John Gass

It’s why strong performances at the Australian PGA and next week’s Australian Open – both of which are co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the DP World Tour – are important to his future plans.

“I still haven’t really had time to dissect the whole year,” he said.

“It had its challenges for sure. I found a lot of it really difficult but I definitely feel like I’m a different calibre of a player now after doing a year out there.

“I played some really difficult places in some difficult conditions, and the travel was tough.

“I’m not going to get a whole lot of opportunity on the main (DP World) tour now. It’s going to be predominantly (the second-tier) Challenge Tour, so hopefully I can get some points up these next couple of weeks, and try to make something happen.

“I love this event and coming to the big Australian events. Our crowds are not like anything I’ve seen all year.

“They love us local guys, so it’s nice to try and put on a show for them.”