Wednesday 2 December 2015 15:48, UK
David Lingmerth begins life on the European Tour at this week's Australian PGA Championship, but the Swede is already looking ahead to next autumn and a potential place in Darren Clarke's Ryder Cup side.
Lingmerth makes his first start since taking up affiliate membership on the European Tour last week, featuring as the second-highest ranked player in the field at RACV Royal Pines Resort.
This week's event is co-sanctioned with the European Tour for the first time, giving Lingmerth the opportunity to pick up some early-season ranking points as he looks to combine his time on the PGA Tour with trying to qualify for Europe's squad for Hazeltine.
Having parachuted himself into the world's top 50 earlier this summer by following victory at the Memorial with top-10 finishes at the Quicken Loans National and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the 28-year-old is now looking to build on a strong year with another in 2016.
"I'm hoping to get to play some more on the European Tour this year coming up and make myself eligible for the Ryder Cup," Lingmerth told a pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. "If I play good enough I'll hopefully make the team; if not at least I gave it a good try.
"Growing up, the Ryder Cup was definitely one of the highlights of the year that you would tune into. It's a dream for a lot of us to play in that and win Ryder Cup so I'm really looking forward to playing some more on the European Tour and giving it a good shot.
"Becoming a global player I think is pretty much anyone's dream. It's great to do well on the PGA Tour and be right there, but I think it shows enormous strength if you can be a great player all over the world like a bunch of these guys.
"Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and a bunch of those guys have been successful around the world. Those are guys we look up to and if I could become a good player on the European Tour as well as the PGA Tour, that's one of the goals for sure."
The Swede makes up one of 20 nationalities in this week's field, with compatriot Pelle Edberg and American Brandt Snedeker also featuring and John Senden leading the home interest.
Lingmerth tees off alongside recent Australian Masters champion Peter Senior and Brett Rumford for the first two rounds, with Rumford excited to see the tournament expand into such a global event.
"It's fantastic that we've got a co-sanctioned event with Europe," Rumford said. "Obviously we'll get a really strong field this year and It means a lot to Australian golf to see these international players to come down playing.
"From an Australian's perspective it's a great opportunity for one of the young guns coming through. There are tournaments within tournaments and you've got qualifying for the Open, so there are incentives to finish up high."
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