It is not difficult to form the impression Curtis Luck will not dwell for too long on the disappointment of missing out on the low amateur prize at the 81st Masters. Luck has had much loftier goals in his sights for a considerable time now. He is not alone; there have been whispers about this young man’s prodigious talent within golf for years.
If this Masters debut marked a key career moment for the 20-year-old from Western Australia, another arrives today: Luck will turn professional, thereby passing up the opportunity of an invitation to the US Open at Erin Hills.
For Luck, Augusta supplied a serious learning experience. “The course was so different to what I had imagined,” he said. “And I think I now have a much better appreciation for how tough it can play. I’m usually a pretty big critic when I watch it on TV and watch any golf on TV. So, now after playing that back nine and through Amen Corner, I have a really good understanding, because I’ve played it in tournament golf and [know] how tough it can be.
“I think that if I ever watch the Masters again from the sidelines, I will not be judging so harshly.”
Anyone doubting Luck’s upcoming approach should bear in mind his unusual place in history. He qualified for this Masters via two routes, having won both the US Amateur Championship and the Asia‑Pacific Amateur Championship. Either would have done. The former, a matchplay event, was by virtue of a 6&4 final success. In the Asia-Pacific version, Luck blasted through the field from the position of seven shots back with 18 holes to play. No wonder he arrived in Georgia as the world’s top amateur.
It is little wonder Luck was smiling, then, when contemplating a future in golf in front of Augusta National’s iconic clubhouse. His closing round of 72 meant an aggregate of plus nine, which was not enough to wrestle the amateur award from Stewart Hagestad but included a run of four successive birdies to further endorse Luck’s promise.
“I would have loved to have an under par round here, but it wasn’t quite to be,” said Luck, who posted 78-72-75-72. “So I’ll have to do it hopefully next year. My goals were, for this year as an amateur, to reach world No1, to come leading amateur here and I was hoping to maybe sneak a professional win under my belt, but that didn’t happen and it wasn’t even close either. So hopefully we’re saving that for later.
“I didn’t hit it my best and still made the cut, that’s always a really good sign at a major. I feel comfortable out here, we’ll see and reassess in six months and that will be a good idea of where I’m at.”
Luck already has high-profile -backing. “His golf game is good and he hits it plenty far enough,” said Rory McIlroy, who played an Augusta practice round with the amateur. “He’s very consistent. I didn’t really see any weaknesses there.”
Luck dismisses any suggestion he should have waited until after the year’s second major to lose amateur status. “I thought I was ready five months ago. I had entered tour school for last year in Japan and Europe, then I won the US Amateur and Asian Amateur, which put a halt on that concept because it meant I could do other things. I’ve felt ready for the last four or five months and now having all this experience playing these professional events over the last three months in particular, yeah, I feel like I’m ready to compete at this level.”
Results back that up. The Masters aside, Luck performed admirably over four rounds both at the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Desert Classic. In the former, he posted a second round of 65. With a focus on the US PGA Tour, he will set up home in Orlando imminently.
“As of now we’re just kind of going through the process of trying to collect invites for the PGA Tour,” Luck said. “Right now we have got four, we’re -working on the fifth at the moment. A lot of the events later in the schedule haven’t even got to the point of considering invites. So we’ll just keep doing that and hopefully if I keep playing well I’ll keep getting some invites.
“I started playing competitive amateur golf when I was about 14. So, just over five years to here. I’m ready to go. I’m excited to try and make some money and I’m excited to, I guess make my way through the pro ranks, or at least give it a good crack.”
As a 25-year-old financial analyst in New York, Hagestad has a different plan to earn his fortune. His wonderfully steady performance here – rounds of 74, 73, 74 and 73 – justifies the Masters handing an invitation to the US Mid-Amateur champion. He saw off Luck’s challenge by three.
