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.