Ashley Chesters was undecided about turning professional at the end of this year, but now he’s really in two minds.
The man from the club that launched Sandy Lyle to a Hall of Fame career became the first player to retain the European Amateur Championship title at the Duke’s Course on Saturday, an event that has past champions of the calibre of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Victor Dubuisson and Stephen Gallacher.
That honour list of one-time winners shows what a rarity it is for a player to even get a chance to win the European trophy twice in succession.
The prestigious title also secures a place in the following year’s Open Championship, but few champions stay amateur beyond that to play for the crown a second time.
Equally as rare after Chesters’ three-shot victory overcoming differing extremes of summer weather at the Duke’s is what potentially awaits him next July playing in the Open as an amateur two years in a row, something only achieved by Edoardo Molinari (2005-06) and none other than Tiger Woods (1995-96) in the last 20 years.
But Chesters was already dithering about the pro game even before he won his chance, one he admits he’s not likely to turn down.
“I’ve got some seriously thinking to do,” he admitted.
“I’d planned to go to the Tour School but as an amateur, still leaving my options open. Now I’m not so sure I’ll even do that. What would be the point in going to Q School at all if I was staying amateur to play at the Open again?
“Playing this year at Hoylake was one of the best experiences of my life. To play an Open at St Andrews on the Old Course, my favourite place to play golf, would just be so special. I’m not sure I can pass up that chance.”
Certainly there was no confusion about Chesters on the last two days at the Duke’s although it would have been easy for him to get sidetracked, as most of the rest of the field were.
Friday’s suspension for thunderstorms threw most of his fellow leaders, but Chesters emerged from the chaos of the stoppage, an early Saturday morning start and then a final round with a two-tee start with complete control of the championship.
His faultless two-under 69 over Friday and Saturday gave him a three-shot cushion over the field as others floundered in the wet and his authority was not challenged once the rain had given way to winds gusting up to 30 mph, stretching his lead to five shots by hitting all but one green in regulation until the 18th.
By then he was in such control he could afford a four-putt on the tricky seventeenth green and playing the final hole in instalments and still win by three shots, the only player to complete the four rounds under par with a two-under aggregate of 282.
Chesters is from the Hawkstone Park club in Shropshire where Lyle’s father Walter was pro for many years and where the Open and Masters champion first emerged as a junior. Ashley’s father Nigel, still a scratch player, played with Lyle in their junior years at the club.
After what has been an outstanding amateur season for the Scots, the European turned out to be a disappointment. Craigie Hill’s Daniel Young, recalled to the Home Internationals team next week, was the best home finisher but back in a tie for 15th.
Scott Borrowman was in the top five through the halfway point but rounds of 78 and 76 relegated him to just inside the top 30 at the end. New national champion Chris Robb finished on the same mark at nine-over, 11 shots behind the winner.