Defending champion Ryan Fox has given Sydney rookie Declan O\u2019Donovan a guided tour of TPC Toronto in preparation for the 23-year-old\u2019s PGA Tour debut at this week\u2019s RBC Canadian Open.<\/p>\n
RELATED: The British Invasion, Burns\u2019 big chance, and TPC Toronto underrated? 10 things for the Canadian Open<\/a><\/p>\n Incredibly, O\u2019Donovan is one of two Aussies in the field this week whose formative years in the game were spent at Roseville Golf Club on Sydney\u2019s Lower North Shore, two-time PGA Tour winner Cam Davis also coming from humble beginnings there to golf\u2019s greatest stage.<\/p>\n Victory in the Canadian Amateur last July<\/a> granted O\u2019Donovan direct entry into the PGA Tour event, an exemption he was able to retain despite turning professional after the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last October<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the seven months since he has earned a first pro win at Webex Players Series Sydney and gone on to claim the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Rookie of the Year title, joining an honour roll that includes Min Woo Lee, Jed Morgan and Haydn Barron.<\/p>\n A steely competitor who plays with the confidence of someone who knows they have done the work, O\u2019Donovan played nine holes with Fox, a former Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner, and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes as his first taste of the tour he would like to one day call home.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure that everyone that is playing their first PGA Tour event would be excited, I hope they are, but I\u2019m just keen. Really, really keen,\u201d O\u2019Donovan said on the\u00a0\u201cTee It Up\u201d\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the environment I want to be in every week. That\u2019s the first thing I was thinking when I arrived at the course, was like, this is exactly where I want to be playing my career every week.\u201d<\/p>\n \nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZWN_IhSdDF\/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=87a99751-3c6f-47c8-8a79-f6980e1323e4\n<\/p>\n Leaving nothing to chance, O\u2019Donovan spent time in Dallas and at the Golf Australia house in Jacksonville, Florida, prior to four days of practice at the National Golf Club of Canada just outside Toronto.<\/p>\n With coach Ben Patterson serving as best man at a friend\u2019s wedding back home, O\u2019Donovan has Dean Kinney on the bag, the pair making a winning combination<\/a> at Webex Players Series Sydney at Castle Hill in February.<\/p>\n