Byrne told Asia can be passport to Europe

JAMES Byrne, who makes his full Asian Tour debut today in the first round of the Myanmar Open, has been told that the circuit is the perfect stepping stone to the European Tour.

According to Englishman Simon Dyson, a former Asian Tour Rookie of the Year, it helps prepare players better for the step up than the Challenge Tour.

“To my mind, there is too much of a gulf between the Challenge Tour and the [European] Tour,” said Dyson when asked about Byrne, a member of last year’s winning Walker Cup side, starting off his professional career on the Asian Tour.

Speaking to Global Golf Post, he added: “There is no rough to speak of on the Challenge Tour and, when the Challenge Tour players first start up out here, they can find themselves struggling.”

Byrne, who birdied the final hole to gain a place among the Qualifying School graduates last month, has been staying with relatives in Singapore in preparation for this week’s event, which carries a $300,000 prize fund.

Looking forward to the season ahead, the 23-year-old from Banchory said: “The Asian Tour offers a lot of money and there are good players on it. It’s different for me and I’m definitely not used to playing in heat like this. The food is a lot different, too. I’m having to make a couple of lifestyle changes but I’m not changing anything in my game and I feel like I’m good enough to be able to win on the Asian Tour.”

Byrne is off to the Phillipines next week and also has the SAIL Open, Cambodian Classic, Panasonic Open and Singapore Classic on his schedule. However, he will either have to come off the reserve list or secure invites for co-sanctioned events such as the Avantha Masters in India in a fortnight’s time.