Bradley Neil is prepared to “start right at the bottom” in his professional career, but it seems he’ll have plenty opportunity among the top names in his first few months.
The 19-year-old from Blairgowrie, fresh from the US Open at Chambers Bay and the last of his high-profile invitations for winning the Amateur Championship last year, will play his first event since his the transition to the pro game at the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Hotel’s Spey Valley course at Aviemore today.
But it looks likely that Bradley’s got a good few more high-profile appointments in the first four months of his pro career. Invitations are already secured for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the French Open, the Made in Denmark tournament in August and the Hong Kong Open in October, while it’s hoped he will get further chances at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the British Masters.
In addition he should get a few opportunities like this week on the Challenge Tour, but he’s setting no ambitious targets.
“This is just the first week, so I am just trying to focus on playing well and trying to get the best result I can,” he said, before playing a pro-am on the “pro” side for the first time yesterday.
“It would be great to make the cut and get my first cheque as a professional this week. I’ve made the cut in pro tournaments before so that’s something I’m definitely aiming for, and any sort of cheque would make this a positive week for me.”
Everything’s happened ahead of schedule for him so far, but he knows this is the biggest step yet.
“I probably first dreamed of turning pro when I was 13; I’d just won the Scottish Under 14s and I think that was the first time when I thought it was something I could maybe do,” he recalled.
“Here I am six years later about to make my debut. Things took a massive turbo boost when I won the Amateur, then getting the chance to play in the majors.
“I never expected to get that chance so soon, and it’s just a bonus to have had that experience as an amateur. Not many get that opportunity so the fact that I was one of the lucky few should hopefully stand me in good stead going forward.”
He didn’t make a cut during those majors, but everything he learned has been carefully logged and put away for future use.
“Last week at Chambers Bay was a bit different, it was challenging but it was the US Open, it was always going to be fun and overall it’s been a massive learning experience,” he said.
“I got to play three of the biggest tournaments in golf, maybe not quite as well as I wanted to, but it can only help me with the next step.
“I’m starting right at the bottom. I’ve stepped up age ranks, and gone from playing in the juniors to men’s golf, so I’ve made those steps up before but obviously none as big as this. It’s a perfect challenge and I can’t wait to get going.”
Bradley already modelled his approach on the professionals so not much has to change.
“I might have turned professional but the way I play golf and approach tournaments will be no different,” he said. “I’m just going out there aiming to prepare well and hopefully the golf will follow.
“There’s a lot of excitement this week and I’m getting to make my debut in Scotland as well which is very important to me.
“It seems like a really good course that could suit me well, so hopefully it does. You need to be good off the tee. If you’ve got length that will help but you need to be accurate, and if you do that you’ll score well.”
Fellow Scot Jamie McLeary, the winner of the Scottish Hydro Challenge in 2009, hasn’t played with Bradley before but has heard much about him.
“I know he hits it a long way, and that works in your favour no matter where you play,” said the Fifer, who won the KPMG Trophy in Belguim a fortnight ago. “He’ll find the cut could be four or five under here when level par is good enough in the Amateurs, but he’s played the biggest events of all so he’ll already know that.
“One big difference is you lead an event in the amateurs and it’ll be a couple of guys chasing you, here it’ll be four or five and on the main tour it’s ten or more guys. The depth is so much greater.”
This is the tenth year of the event and McLeary has played in most of them.
“It’s playing very soft so it’s very scoreable this year, but the rough is up,” he said. “It’s got a lot of good memories for me winning but I feel conditions were in my favour that year, and the win in Belgium the other week I played much better.
“It’s interesting to see all the guys who’ve played in this event down the years. Definitely the biggest hype was Matteo Manassero, everybody knew who he was and how good he was and there was a lot of talk about him when he made his pro debut here.
“Brooks Koepka (2013 winner, now a world top 25 player) didn’t get so much talk, but when you played with him you knew how good he was. He’s definitely the best player to have played in this event.”
There are 30 home players in the field this week, including former Walker Cup player James Byrne as a late entrant when Jimmy Gunn, who played in the US Open at the weekend, was unable to take up his invitation.