A decade after mounting golf’s numerical summit, Jason Day believes Min Woo Lee now has all the tools to become Australian golf’s next male world No.1.

The Paris Olympic teammates spent Tuesday together at the Masters, playing a practice round with fellow Australian Cameron Smith as the trio all set to build on what are impressive records at Augusta National.

Day has finished top-five on three occasions, Smith boasts four finishes inside the top-six while Lee has two top-25 results from three appearances.

This year is different, though, for the 26-year-old West Australian.

This year Lee comes in as a PGA TOUR winner, a hurdle he was able to climb thanks in no small part to his friendship with Day.

Post fading from contention after holding the 36-hole lead at THE PLAYERS, Lee spoke briefly with Day on the putting green on the Tuesday of the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

The advice from the 2015 US PGA champion was simple: Trust the process and keep hitting good shots.

Five days later Lee was a PGA TOUR winner and the next day, at a career-high of No.22, was the No.1-male Australian player on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Day believes it is just the next step in becoming the best player on the planet.

“Obviously been out here a while and I can definitely tell when guys have that certain X factor about themselves and they have potential of standing out. Min is definitely one of those guys,” said Day, who spent a total of 51 weeks as world No.1.

“He hits it a mile. Has a really good short game. He does all the sexy stuff good. All the stuff that people love to see, he does that really, really well.

“It was funny. I was sitting there on Tuesday of Houston. I’m like, dude, you played great at THE PLAYERS. You had the lead through 36 holes. Obviously played good there beforehand. You just got to keep putting yourself in position and it’ll happen regardless.

“Obviously won that week.

“With Min, it’s all up to him if he wants to get to No.1 and to that next level. Obviously there is work ethic and that desire to become No.1 in the world. It’s a lifestyle change he has to understand.

“I know that he has the tools and the mental side to do it because he loves the moment, and that’s something that you cannot teach golfers in general, to love being in that moment and under the most stress.

“If he can really enjoy that and just improve over time, he’s got the best chance to become No.1 from Australia.”

Further emphasising his elevated place within world golf, Lee has been paired with good friend Collin Morikawa and 2023 Australian Open champion Joaquin Niemann in one of the feature groups for Round 1.

Twelve months ago, Lee drove down Magnolia Lane nursing a broken finger following a mishap with a dumbbell and feeling under the weather after sharing his jumper with a young fan while watching sister Minjee in the cold air of Las Vegas.

This week he arrived at Augusta ranked higher than the players he once idolised and who he shared a practice round with on Tuesday.

“It’s pretty surreal actually,” Lee said of being Australia’s highest-ranked male player at No.23.

“I mean, it’s crazy. I looked up to these guys and I still do.

“It’s awesome to be the No.1-ranked Aussie. I still feel like a little kid growing up and I don’t feel 26. I feel 18, 19, 20 as a youngster.

“But it is very cool. It’s cool to be there.

“I feel like I inspire kids and inspire people to love and play golf.

“It’s quite cool to be the top spot I guess in Australian golf and hopefully I can keep going.”

Round 1 tee times

10:52pm AEST Cameron Smith, JT Poston, Aaron Rai

11:47pm Min Woo Lee, Collin Morikawa, Joaquín Niemann

11:58pm Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley

12:48am Cameron Davis, Rafael Campos, Austin Eckroat

3:01am Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland