Major Opportunities Prompt Delay in Plans to Turn Pro

Chonburi, Thailand: Harrison Crowe has no qualms about putting his professional career on hold after earning starting spots in next year’s Masters Tournament and Open Championship.

The 21-year-old Australian had planned on joining the ranks of the pros immediately after the 13th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC).

However, in the wake of his dramatic victory at Amata Spring Country Club, Crowe confirmed that he’ll retain his amateur status in order to line up at Augusta National in April and Royal Liverpool in July.

“This is how I want to delay things, for sure. It’s an awesome feeling and it’s an extremely good reason not to turn (pro) right this minute,” said Crowe, who will map out his plans in the coming days.

“I’ll go home and I’ll talk to my coach, and talk to my team around me, and we’ll just sort out from there what I do play in. But when I wake up in the morning, it’s going to be pretty surreal knowing I’m playing in the Masters and The Open.

“It means so much (to win the AAC). I played a lot of really good golf early in the season, but towards the middle of the year when I travelled overseas, I didn’t play very good golf at all.

“So, I came here this week with something to prove, and I’m just really proud of myself the way I handled myself on and off the course. I feel like I just did all the right things this week."

Despite a slow start to his final round in which he dropped three strokes in the opening nine holes, Crowe kept grinding, waiting for a putt to drop.

He said: “I certainly had to dig deep. At the turn, I told my dad and his mate that I just needed one to go in, just one to drop, and from there, I backed myself to keep it going. I had not had a birdie all day, and the one on 11 got my momentum going forward."

In his moment of triumph, Crowe paid tribute to China’s Jin Bo, who had to settle for second place.

Crowe said: “This morning was the first time I met Bo. He was great. He was awesome to play with. He played some super golf early on.”

Jin, who was hoping to add another AAC trophy to his family cabinet alongside the one won by his brother Cheng in 2015, managed to retain his smile after the disappointing finish, a double-bogey five at the short 17th proving decisive.

"This is not the position I wanted to be in, but I am very proud of the way I played this whole week. You just can’t take anything away from Harrison and the way he played the back nine,” said Jin, who finished tied-eighth in 2019 and tied-third last year in Dubai.

“I have got another year in college so if they invite me back, I am definitely coming to Melbourne next year and try this all over again. Hopefully, I will finish one position better.”