Teenaged Australian Amateur golf champion Cameron Smith is turning professional and aiming to emulate some big names.
He is heading to United States where he’ll try to break onto the secondary web.com Tour through pre-qualifying at four events from next week.
After a stellar amateur career, the 19-year-old is inspired by some illustrious fellow Queenslanders.
“It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to starting my pro career and hope to follow in the footsteps of Greg Norman and Adam Scott,” Smith said.
Smith’s wins include the Australian Amateur Championship, Australian Junior Championship, Australian Stroke Play Championship and a number of state titles.
He has already produced good results playing against professionals as an amateur when fourth at last year’s Queensland PGA Championship and 14th at the 2012 Australian Open.
Smith paid tribute to the assistance he’s had from Golf Australia and their high performance staff and also Golf Queensland.
“I could not have got this far without them,” he said.
Golf Australia high performance director Brad James welcomed Smith’s switch to the play for pay ranks.
“This is great news for Cameron and a prime example of what Golf Australia’s high performance program strives to achieve in taking players to the next level,” said James.
“Cameron will now join Golf Australia’s rookie professional program and we’ll be working closely with him as he makes the transition to the professional ranks.”
AAP n