Cardross golfer turns professional

Jan 2 2009 by Laura McLachlan, Lennox Herald (main ed)

CARDROSS golf club representative Scott Henry rounded off a fantastic 2008 by turning pro – and is now looking forward to making his mark on the Challenge Tour.

The 21-year-old made it to the final stage of European Tour qualifying school in November, but just lost out on a place on Tour at the last hurdle.

However, the impressive performance the youngster put in on his first Tour School attempt earned him playing rights on Europe’s second biggest tour where several other Scottish golfers have shown promise.

“I decided to turn pro about a week after Tour school because I had managed to do enough to get playing rights for Challenge,” he said.

“I’ll get to play about 20 events which was enough for me to decide it was worth changing my status.”

The former Scottish strokeplay champion will begin his Challenge Tour campaign in Spain in March before heading to Kenya and Morocco.

He said: “I’ve been to Morocco before, but Kenya will be a bit different, I think!

“I’m looking forward to it. It will be good to play in different places and the majority of the events on tour are widespread so that’s pretty positive.”

But what Scott, who finished 15th in the Scottish Challenge as an amateur in June, is looking forward to most about changing his amateur status is the prize money.

“I have to say, it is going to be good if I do well at a tournament and instead of getting a pat on my back for my efforts I would be winning prize money,” said Scott.

“If I had stayed amateur this year, I would basically be doing the same thing again and not progressing any further in my career really.

“This way I get a reward for my efforts if I do well. Although it felt brilliant winning a tournament as an amateur, if I win as a pro, it will be even better.”

Scott still has three months before his professional career kicks off in earnest and until then he’ll be braving the frost out on the range working on his game.

“I’ll be stepping up my practice from this week on,” he said.

“My coach and I will be working on a few things and I’ll be at the range most days, and at the gym as well, preparing my game so it is at its best before the first tournament.”