There was one Australian icon that Jason Day was craving more than anything when he touched down on home soil for the first time since 2017.

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Back in his home state of Queensland for the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane starting Thursday, Day wasted no time upon arrival.

“I got off the plane, went through customs – they lost my clubs – and went straight to the bakery and got two meat pies,” Day said with a laugh on Wednesday.

Day was part of a panel discussion alongside Min Woo Lee and Cameron Smith which was led by Open champion and renowned golf broadcaster Ian Baker-Finch at the Greg Norman Medal on Tuesday night.

The 37-year-old had the room in the palm of his hands as he was in a reflective mood with meat pies not being the only thing that has evoked memories of his humble beginnings in the rural town of Beaudesert – inland from the Gold Coast.

Day dashed out onto Royal Queensland on Monday morning for a practice round and it was the first time he stepped onto the course since he represented his state in the Australian interstate series as a 16-year-old.

Being among so many up-and-coming Australian golfers took Day’s mind back to his early days well before he was world number one or a major champion.

He recalled with Lee, Smith and Baker-Finch that he got his first golf club as a three-year-old when his father brought it home from the rubbish tip.

“We would always go down to the rubbish tip with my dad to find toys,” Day recalled.

“I still remember the smell of the place. I don’t recommend it.”

As a six-year-old he joined Beaudesert Golf Club and that was where he laid his foundations before the family moved to Rockhampton two years later.

Day began playing in local tournaments around central Queensland, and one course has stuck in his mind.

“I grew up playing on sand greens,” he said.

“There was a golf course we played a tournament at that had five sand greens to start the nine and then four grass greens.

“I tell you what when you went from the sand to grass, it felt like Augusta. It was unbelievable.”

Those memories are truly a world away from the life he has built for himself, his wife Ellie and their five children in Ohio.

Having a big family comes with its challenges and for Day, it has meant not returning home as much as he would like to.

His injury battles have also often made trips for the Australian PGA and Australian Open unfeasible, but now the timing seems right.

Speaking at Royal Queensland on Wednesday, he expressed his pleasure at coming home to see he his sisters for their time since their mother’s passing in 2022, while on the golf course, Day is in the midst of a career resurgence with years of work to remodel his swing to relieve pressure from his troublesome back finally paying off.

He soared inside the world top 20 earlier this year – his ranking now sits at 31st – after it had been as high as 175th two years ago.

A win at the PGA Tour’s AT&T Byron Nelson last year as well as a runner-up finish at The Open came as reward for effort, while this year has included five top ten finishes, but his focus has been reconnecting with Australia.

After bypassing the opportunity in 2016 due to concerns about the Zika virus, Day donned the green and gold at an Olympic Games for the first time when he and Lee formed the Australian men’s team in Paris.

He hailed the experience – where he finished tied ninth – as one of the best of his career, and his ties to his home country grow deeper this week as he once again struts his stuff in front of home fans.

The other big-name Australians who are playing in Brisbane this week have said it all about how much it means to have Day back home.

Lee, who Day has become incredibly close to since playing in the Olympics and the Presidents Cup together, was thrilled as being only 26 years of age, he knows the impact it will have on the younger players on the Australian tour who have watched Day from their couches for as long as they can remember.

“I’m sure he is very excited to play here,” Lee said. “His game’s at a level where he wanted to be, especially after injury, and it’s very cool to see and good to see.

“Pretty proud of the way he’s gone about it and hopefully he plays well, and I play better, but we are going to have fun. I really love and appreciate that he is down in Australia playing.”

Fellow PGA Tour player Cam Davis echoed Lee’s comments.

“It’s great to see any Aussie that’s had success overseas come back and play in Australia,” the 29-year-old said.

“I think that’s what we miss. I mean, I’ve been in the US for a long time now, but I remember the 20 years that I spent here before I moved over to the US, what it was like to see someone that you watched on TV to finally come back to Australia and see it in person.

“It made a big difference to me.”

The biggest lessons Day is passing onto the new generation of Australian golfers is what it takes to become the best in the world.

Day made comments earlier this year about how he believes Lee has the game to reach the pinnacle but on Tuesday evening outlined the necessary steps it takes to get there.

“It is literally a lifestyle,” Day said. “You have to eat, sleep and golf. It’s 24/7. Non-stop.

“You can have fun with your friends every now and then, but once that’s over it’s back to golf, back to work. You have to focus.

“Everything you do is based on how you can get to being number one in the world.

“For me, I didn’t have a can of Coke for two years. I don’t think it’s that impressive but McDonald’s Coke and fries (is the best).

“Eating chicken and broccoli every meal. Ten-hour days of straight practice and gym, sometimes two a day gym sessions.

“Everything was pushing towards that goal.”

He also regaled the young Australians with tales of what it’s like to be in the hunt at a major.

Adam Scott’s 2013 Masters triumph is one of the most talked about feats in Australian golf history, but many have forgotten that it was Day who looked most likely to break the nation’s duck at Augusta National in the early hours of that famous morning.

“I choked,” Day said.

“I had the lead with three holes left.

“It felt like I had cramps all over my body. It was that intense.

“I was standing on 16 tee box, and I was just amped. I finished second in my rookie Masters and by 2013 I’d kind of established myself on the tour. I kind of could handle it a little bit more but it was very, very hard.

“I ended up pulling my tee shot. Didn’t get that up-and-down on 16, bogeyed that. Bogeyed 17 and that was that.

“I had a four-iron in the rain on 15 to 20 feet under the hole and missed that for eagle when it was bucketing down. They’re not easy finishing holes.”

The heavy rain in Brisbane this week is somewhat of a throwback to that Sunday at Augusta National.

The stakes are not as high, but Australian golf fans are hoping that the scenes will be similar with several Australians at the top of the leaderboard when the whips are cracking.

If Day can lift the trophy, it would be his first victory on home soil since he won the individual competition, while he and Scott took out the team event at the World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne 11 years ago.

He has never won either of Australia’s two major trophies – the Australian PGA and the Australian Open – but it would be a fitting homecoming if he could add a victory in home state to his already illustrious resume.

Whether or not he has a trophy in his carry on baggage, he will have plenty of treats to take back to Ohio with lolly snakes, Burger Rings, lamingtons and more meat pieces to be stuffed into this luggage.