Tom McKibbin may only be 21 years old but he believes a win this week on home soil at the Amgen Irish Open would be very difficult to top across the rest of his career.
The home hero has already achieved plenty in a short space of time: graduating from the European Challenge Tour in 2022, winning the Porsche European Open in 2023 and making his debut in two Major Championships this year.
This season has also seen McKibbin lose out in a play-off at the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna and achieve six further top tens, cementing his status as a genuine contender for this title in a field containing the likes of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
Sitting 17th on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex with qualification for the DP World Tour play-offs assured, McKibbin is also hunting Dual Membership with the PGA TOUR and while there is still so much left to be achieved, he believes winning his home open could top the lot when he looks back in retirement.
"It would mean a lot," he said. "I think it would mean a lot no matter where it was, but here at (Royal) County Down would be even more special just because of the prestigiousness of the course and how special it is.
"It would probably be the biggest achievement of my career and it would probably stay there forever.
"It's just another tournament. I play a lot of these every week, so just trying to treat them the same as most weeks. Obviously it's a little bit different. It's a big event, just trying to keep them hopefully the same.
"I haven't sort of quite experienced this, home crowds. It's something I've got to deal with.
"Lucky that I've played two Majors with a lot of crowds and I think that will help me a lot going forward for this week.
"Obviously I think the golf course is so hard that I'll be too busy distracted trying to battle it. So hopefully it shouldn't be too bad."
This week's host venue of Royal County Down is not only regarded as one of golf's toughest tests but also one of its best courses, often topping polls and opinion pieces as the very best layout on the planet.
Despite being born locally, McKibbin admits he has not played the course a lot but has seen enough in his half a dozen or so visits to know that it will be a fierce test.
"I think it's a very difficult golf course, very demanding and very hard," he said. "That sort of makes it special.
"The first couple of times I came here I found it very hard and quite traumatising but the more I've played it the more I appreciate the course and the history of it and I think that's what makes it special to me.
"I think everything needs to be in top shape but off the tee is crucial. I mean, there's a lot of blind tee-shots, a lot of tee-shots with quite strong crosswinds that you just don't see the ball land or see where the target is.
"I think keeping it straight in front of you, and I think obviously the scoring will be quite difficult. So I think if you just need to take a couple of safer clubs to get the ball into play, it's definitely worth it."
