Lucas Herbert feels his decision to skip the PGA Championship and target the Australian Open has given him a leg-up, with the Victorian getting in plenty of sandbelt practice ahead of the Royal Melbourne showpiece.
Herbert led throughout most of last year's tournament at Victoria Golf Club but crashed out on the back nine with three bogeys to slump to equal fifth.
Still rankled by that result, the 29-year-old decided he would be best served by practising in Melbourne last weekend rather than heading north to Brisbane to contest the PGA.
"I played Kingston Heath on Thursday, Commonwealth on Friday and Peninsula Kingswood on Sunday. I had a wedding on Saturday, so the wife's definitely sick of me playing golf," Herbert said on Tuesday.
"It was very nice to get down here and play, and obviously amazing courses to prepare for a tournament on.
"They're phenomenal places to play and a lot of fun and it really tests you out, both with your skill set and also with your strategy around the places.
"They're not long by any stretch, you're hitting a lot of different clubs off tees so I felt like it was really good prep."
Herbert kept a close eye on the PGA at Royal Queensland which was played in searing heat and felt he'd made the right call to remain in Melbourne.
"I felt like looking at the guys playing up there at RQ, conditions looked a little different from what they're going to be like down here.
"I felt like it gave me a nice leg up to really be dialled in around the greens and feel like I was somewhat acclimatised more than these boys playing last week."
Herbert was disappointed with his performance in last month's NSW Open where he failed to successfully defend his title and finished 44th, but the LIV Golf ace found his groove at the recent Saudi International where he tied for fifth.
He felt like he had regained momentum to finish the year strongly.
"I felt like I probably struggled the last six months a little bit - I think halfway through the season I was fourth on the live standings and slipped to 15th by the end of the year," said Herbert, who has finished in the top 10 at the past three Opens.
"I would have liked to have finished the season off better as I was playing some better golf earlier in the year, so it's a bit frustrating but yeah Saudi was a good result to feel like we built some momentum."
