The last time a former European Tour player returned as a reinstated amateur to tee it up in the East of Ireland at Baltray, Jim Carvill led by nine shots with a round to go, in 2005, and won the title by three.

Could Stephen Browne, the former European Amateur champion and two-time Challenge Tour winner, repeat the trick when he gets back to County Louth for the first time in 13 years this weekend? The bookies have made the 40-year-old father of two — soon to be a father of three — a 33/1 chance behind favourite and defending champion, Paul Dunne.

While Browne himself says he’s unlikely to make a winning return, he’s looking forward to one last championship golf hurrah in the event that launched him on the road to the European Tour way back in 2001.

“Can I win it? I don’t think so,” said the Hermitage man, who is back playing off plus one, after having 39 points recently.

“If you get the old feelings back, you never know. But no. I am so long from competitive golf now. I am so far from sharp. I haven’t played in anything for five years.”

That was a lot further east than Baltray — the 2008 Kazakhstan Open to be precise, where the Hermitage man said goodbye to tour golf after a seven-year spell. He had won the second of his Challenge Tour titles there in 2005, singing Danny Boy to a bemused crowd at the finish.

In fact, as a former Kazakhstan Open champion, he’s been invited back to the Central Asian republic with all expenses paid this year to celebrate the event’s 10th anniversary. But he’ll be too busy changing nappies and selling financial planning software for Voyant in Dublin to be tempted by another trip to one of the wildest tour stops around.

“Kazakhstan was wild but Baltray is the furthest east I’ll be playing golf this year,” he said, with a laugh. “I said I’ve had a dart at it, for old time’s sake. I’ll be playing Barton Shield and Senior Cup for Hermitage.”

Browne’s decision to return was a kneejerk reaction to having 39 points in Hermitage recently and getting cut to plus one, just enough to qualify for Baltray.

“I entered the East the following day,” he said. “To be honest, the last time I played in a 72-hole event was Kazakhstan in 2008, and I’ve hardly played since I started back this year. This could be my last chance to win a championship because in a few years I may not be in a position to do it.

“We have two kids and we’re having another one in August so I said I’d probably not get the chance to do it next year. The East is only up the road, it’s only three days and I love Baltray. It’s where it all started for me anyway.”

Browne is referring to the 2001 “East”, when he made the cut with a shot to spare, shot nine under par on the 36-hole final day and finished fourth, behind Ken Kearney. “I made the cut by the skin of my teeth,” he recalls. “I hit it way right in two into the heavy stuff on the 18th and I was looking for it for four minutes 58 seconds when a friend of mine found the ball — absolutely buried. I remember hacking it across the green into the bunker and got up and down from the trap on the left. I reckon I never would have turned pro if I had lost that ball.

“Finishing fourth got me on the Irish six-man team for the Europeans, with the likes of Graeme McDowell and Michael Hoey. We got to the final and I got to play in the European Individual in Denmark and won. I turned pro later that year and the rest is history.”

You won’t see Browne at Seapoint for the Irish Close or at Lahinch for the South, where he lost to Justin Kehoe in the 2001 final.

“This will be it,” he said. “I am not tempted to play any more championships. They take too much time when you are working. But it’ll be great to get back and see how the young lads play these days.”

At 33-1, he might just be worth a canny each-way bet.