That is despite a strong amateur career and a share of fourth place at the 2022 Australian Open that earnt the West Australian a place at Royal Liverpool.

Relative anonymity won’t faze the easy going 27-year-old, who not long ago was cutting grass and setting pins at the West Australian Golf Club before earning Rookie of the Year honours on the PGA Tour of Australasia last season.

Sure to garner some attention for his height when he gets some TV time this week, Barron has one of the more interesting lead ins of The Open field having last teed it up in a world ranking qualifying event at the start of April.

From that start at The National, Barron played a string of pro-ams in WA before two mixed events in Thailand then making his way to London and recording a runner-up on the pay-to-play Clutch Tour.

Since then, it has been money games as he prepares to make his major championship debut.

“Kind of trying to keep the competitive spirits flowing with some cash on the line, that’s pretty much been it,” Barron told Australian reporters from Royal Liverpool this week. “Definitely haven’t played as much as I would like to have, but feel like I did everything I could to get as many rounds in as I could.”

So far, those rounds have been with some of his compatriots from the 10 strong Australian contingent, including the links at Southport & Ainsdale and Royal Lytham & St Annes with Travis Smyth, as well as Hoylake practice with David Micheluzzi and Connor McKinney.

RIGHT: Barron at the Australian Open after securing his Open spot. PHOTO: Australian Golf Media.

Heading out with transplanted Scot McKinney saw Barron get a chance to play alongside major winner Matt Fitzpatrick and his brother Alex, while a planned round with Min Woo Lee on Tuesday will form part of a special experience for Barron among such a large Australian challenge.

“It’s awesome,” he said of the size of the Australian faction. “It’s really cool having so many familiar faces here and so many people to have a chat to, it is definitely making me feel a lot more comfortable than I thought I would.

“Min Woo is one of my closest mates from back home, anytime I am around him I feel comfortable, and it will probably be a good way to expose myself to some decent crowds before the tournament starts.”

Preparing for the biggest event of his career has involved the typical links experience of tight lies and ball flight control, while Barron has also worked on internal focus rather than specific goals for the week.

“I’ve been working pretty diligently on trying to remove outcomes from my mindset. The main word I am looking at is ‘identity’. How does Haydn Barron tackle certain situations, not if the outcome turns this way how do I react.

“Still doing my best to rake the bunkers properly and fill in my divots to keep everyone happy." – Haydn Barron.

“I’m not putting an outcome on this week at all, just tackle it with the best mentality every day and do the best I can every day and whatever it will be, will be and as long as I am proud of myself at the end of the week, that’s my main goal.”

If he does manage to do just that and find himself in the mix over the weekend, something else Barron will attempt to tap in to, is how he closed out his home Open that sent him for Hoylake.

Closing with a birdie-eagle finish on Sunday at Victoria Golf Club, Barron says he watched the Australian Open footage over 1,000 times inside of a week saying “I do draw off that in the big moments. It seems to pop into my mind”.

He also continues to draw off his time working as part of Idris Evans’ greenkeeping crew at his home club, enjoying discussions with some of Royal Liverpool’s greenkeepers since arriving last Friday. And of course, looking after the course.

“Still doing my best to rake the bunkers properly and fill in my divots to keep everyone happy,” he joked.

Once a greenkeeper, always a greenkeeper, even when trying to win a Claret Jug.