Kirkhill golfer Craig Ross has set his sights on getting full status back on the Challenge Tour, and hopes his form has him on the right track to get there.
Cambuslang player Ross finished fourth at the Mangaung Open in South Africa last month, but didn’t make the cut for further tournaments there, and came home early.
But the 29-year-old hopes for a good season, and that performances on Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Tour can get him back on the Challenge Tour in May.
He said: “I was out playing a championship there, it was the first one back for me, and I did okay, I finished fourth.
“I had a chance of winning it, so it was a bit of a disappointing finish, but it was still a good week getting back out there.
“I’m just back from South Africa this week but I didn’t play great and missed the cut, so I was home early, which was a bit disappointing.
“But I seem to be hitting it well and giving myself chances, which is good. I don’t have full status on the Challenge Tour so I would like to at least get that again.
“I just don’t know what events I’m going to get into, at the moment, and when they start back in Europe in May hopefully I’ll get a few there, so I’d like to get that back.
“If I can get off to a good start, like I have done, and just keep it going, then get on to the main tour, get into the top 20 on the Challenge Tour and get a European card, that would be the main goal.
“Theres a five-week break in April, I’ll just be playing the Paul Lawrie stuff, the Tartan Tour, in the second week in April, so I’ll play at Royal Dornoch, Montrose, and then go on to Barassie and Dundonald and then hopefully I can get on the Challenge Tour come May,”
In July 2018 Ross wons the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Clipper Logistics Championship at Moor Allerton Golf Club in Yorkshire. It was his first win on tour since turning professional in September 2017.
Ross admits he turned professional late in his career, but says there are benefits to that, and just earning a living from what is a hobby is an amazing situation to be in.
“I turned pro at the end of 2017, so if you take that Covid year out from 2020 this is my third or fourth season as a pro,” he said.
“I started playing when I was five or six, because my dad got me into it.
“I played all the amateur stuff, county stuff with Willie Sharpe, playing in the boys’ team and the men’s team and then got involved with Scottish Golf, going on trips to Dubai and South Africa, then decided to turn pro.
“I probably turned pro a wee bit later than I should have, but I just didn’t feel ready. I won a Euro pro as an amateur and a few guys suggested I turned pro then.
“Some part of me wishes I did it, but then I wouldn’t have won the other events I played in.
“I wouldn’t have got to go on trips around Scotland or abroad, so I maybe wouldn’t have had those opportunities – but I maybe would have learned my trade a wee bit quicker!
“The best part of being a professional golfer is the travel, you get to go to some nice places – but sometimes you don’t really see anything, because you’re out in the middle of nowhere.
“But it’s not a bad life, you get to do the job that you love, it’s a hobby and you make a job out of it.”
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