White happy to put pro career on hold for now

JAMES White, last year’s Scottish Order of Merit winner, believes he’d have been foolish to turn professional without a card in his hand and is aiming to make the most of the globe-trotting opportunities in modern-day amateur golf until that changes.

The Fifer, who decided to hang on to his amateur status after failing to get past the second stage in the European Tour Qualifying School at the end of last year, is part of the Scotland squad currently on an eight-week winter trip to South Africa that has come hard on the heels of a month-long visit to Abu Dhabi.

Their second event, the South African Stroke-Play Championship, gets under way today at Glendower and White is confident he made the right decision to stay in the amateur ranks for another year.

“I felt that I’d be in no-man’s land if I had no card or no Tour to play on and it’s a great opportunity to come to South Africa for two months to work on your game and make big improvements,” said the 23-year-old. “I’ll be back in time for the domestic stuff kicking off and then have some great events to play in through the summer before having another shot at Tour School if I fancy it later in the year.”

White, who has a general business degree from Stirling University in his back pocket but would prefer if he didn’t have to use it, is one of only two survivors from last year’s South African trip, the other one being Kirkhill’s Paul Shields. It follows the decision by a whole host of players, including Michael Stewart, James Byrne and David Law, to make the switch to the professional ranks at the end of last season, leaving the likes of White and fellow Fifers Brian Soutar and Scott Crichton in the spotlight this year, along with Shields.