David Micheluzzi given invite to PGA Championship ahead of PGA Tour debut

The next few weeks will be the biggest in the career of an emerging Aussie talent who will be playing for nearly $30m in prizemoney.

David Micheluzzi will play in the PGA Championship (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Of all the advice David Micheluzzi has been given ahead of his PGA Tour debut, the most important came from fellow Australian Lucas Herbert.

“Don’t do skids in the Escalade they give you,” said Micheluzzi, a car nut and the reigning PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit champion, as he prepared to teed off in the $14m Byron Nelson Classic this week.

The 27-year-old is set for a massive few weeks with confirmation he will also make his major debut at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill before playing the Memorial Tournament and also entering qualifying for the US Open.

Already qualified for the British Open at Royal Liverpool, the two-month stretch of golf could set the Victorian up for bigger and better things.

Micheluzzi has come a long way from the days of not even entering tour qualifying because he wasn’t sure his game was good enough to compete with the best, choosing instead to stay in Australia to play.

“I‘m not going to lie actually. There was a little bit of doubt,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say I was like, ‘Oh, I see all these guys going to Q-school and potentially going to get their card and all that’.

Aussie David Micheluzzi will make his major debut at the PGA Championship. Picture by Michael Klein

“But in the back of my mind, they were missing events in Australia; I wasn’t. It was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to miss it, but hang on, I’ve got events here’, and I feel like over a season, I back myself more than just a week.

“I had that one-second doubt, and then it just went out of my mind, like, ‘No, this is the right decision’. I feel like my game is in a great spot.

“You never know, I could have gone and won Q-school and I could be out there right now. But I think the way everything has played out, I think I made probably the best decision to stay back home and just play.”

Micheluzzi’s Order of Merit victory also ensured a DP World Tour card for 2024 that – when added to his major berths – made it a good call.

It also allowed him to develop a friendship with 2006 US Open champ Geoff Ogilvy, who has been both a measuring stick and sounding board for Micheluzzi. Ogilvy has also made a US PGA Tour return this year, ensuring he’ll be close by for advice.

“I think he’s more of late he’s become like a mate of mine, where I do ask him the odd questions and all that, but he’s more just like playing games and just seeing how good he is,” he said.

He says his game is in a great spot. Picture: Michael Klein

“He didn‘t play for ages on the PGA Tour, but he’d still go out and whoop my arse. It was like, he’s not playing, this is what it’s like. I’ve got to get a lot better, kind of thing.

“His locker is right near mine, and I was like, ‘Oh, Geoff is playing’. I didn‘t even know. I saw Scottie (Adam Scott) this morning before my practice round, said g’day real quick and all that, but yeah, just looking forward to it.

“It‘s going to be so cool.”

Originally published as David Micheluzzi given invite to PGA Championship ahead of PGA Tour debut