Buoyed by his first white Christmas, Min Woo Lee is dreaming of feasting on birdies when he makes his debut as a fulltime PGA Tour member at the American Express in California.

Australia's world No.37 says there's no better place to start his year than at the Nicklaus Tournament Course after enjoying six weeks off over the festive season.

"The weather's unbelievable," Lee said.

"It's my first time in America this time of the year, which is weird. I was in Vancouver last week and I saw snow for the first time, outside the car, so that was pretty cool.

"Normally, I'm in Australia or Dubai ... so it's quite nice to see a white Christmas.

"I'm really excited. This week's going to be fun. I know there's going to be lots of birdies and the scoring's really low."

Lee is predicting a putting shootout will separate the best from the rest after 72 holes and feels primed to be among the contenders down the stretch on Sunday after winning last year's Macau Open with a 30-under-par total.

"(Macau) was a course where you could really get it, go for it. Hopefully it's quite similar," he said.

"The great thing is that the course isn't that tight. Pretty wide fairways. If you hit the fairway, you can really attack the greens and pins."

The 24-year-old excitement machine hasn't played since finishing third at the Australian Open in early December, a week after winning the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

"I'm relatively pretty good after a break," Lee said.

"Usually I'm fine with putting down the clubs for a little bit, and then coming back pretty fresh.

"It's not like a couple of other guys, where they have to keep grinding and not take too much time off.

"It's a plus for me. (I'm) excited for the week and I'm really excited to have my first year out here and (to) live in America, which is awesome."

Lee is among five Australians teeing up this week.

World No.18 Jason Day, along with Cam Davis, Harrison Endycott and Aaron Baddeley are also in the field.