Dunbar mulls over move to professional ranks

British Amateur champion Alan Dunbar is considering abandoning the perks of his newly-won status by turning professional at the end of the year.

Dunbar, who won one of amateur golf’s most coveted prizes last weekend at Troon, will tee off as an “am” alongside “pro” Pádraig Harrington today at Royal Portrush in the Irish Open Pro-Am but intends to be on an equal footing with the three-time major winner on European Tour entry lists in 2013.

The 22-year-old Portrush native, one of four amateurs in the Irish Open field starting tomorrow, is weighing the possibility of turning his back on the prime invitations that accompany winning the British Amateur to next year’s Masters at Augusta National and the US Open, to be played in 2013 at Merion in Pennsylvania. Instead, his intention is to play the European Tour Q-school this winter and, if successful, turning pro is still a live possibility.

“It all hasn’t really sunk in yet, so I really want to get through this week and play well, and then sit down next week and try and sort things out a bit before I play the Scottish Open and then The Open,” Dunbar said yesterday, at Royal Portrush.

“My plans at the start of the year were to go to Q-School, stay an amateur through Q-School and see how I got on, and at the minute I still thank that is the plan.”

Asked if he might wait until he played the Masters before turning pro — which he could still do if he came successfully through Q-School providing he made his decision before May 1 next year — Dunbar added:

“That’s a possibility but I’ve got a lot of thinking to do next week.”

Countryman Michael Hoey, who preceded Dunbar as British Amateur champion by 11 years, played the Masters before turning pro, a US Open invitation having not been part of the package that came with his victory. And Hoey, who has since won four times on the European Tour, including this year’s Trophee Hassan II in Morocco, believes Dunbar should follow a similar path, particularly as he has the putting game to shine at Augusta.

“He’s got a lovely putting stroke, much better than mine was at that level and he has a good chance of doing well in Augusta with a stroke like that because those greens are pretty tough.

“I didn’t get the US Open but it’s just a great experience isn’t it? Not being negative, but you don’t know that you’re going to get Top-50 in the world as a pro to get into Augusta. So I would say to wait for that and the US Open. It’s a long career, so there’s plenty of time.”