Blow for Bay as leading amateur takes aim at pro career

Ben Taylor, a mainstay of Bay of Plenty's last two interprovincial-winning amateur golf teams, is turning professional, making him ineligible for December's title defence at Paraparaumu.
Taylor's tentative plans to chase his pro ticket crystalised at last weekend's 72-hole Wairakei Open, with the scratch handicapper finishing a confidence-boosting 8th in the quality pro-am field.
Despite still being an amateur, the 22-year-old is out of consideration for Bay's interprovincial defence from December 7-11, which falls the week before he heads to the two-stage Australasian qualifying school in Melbourne.
"I could have stayed and played the interprovincial but I've got one shot and figured I need to get myself over there and prepare properly, because it's my living after that.
"Playing a whole week at Paraparaumu and then flying to Melbourne for 72 holes of stage one qualifying two days later didn't make a lot of sense."
Taylor was two-over par at Wairakei - fourth-best amateur and ahead of experienced professionals Brendon Stuart, Troy Ropiha and Grant Moorhead.
"Talking to the pros confirmed what I'd be thinking, that it'd be worth going over and getting my Australasian PGA card because a high enough finish (after stage two of Q-School) would give me starts on the OneAsia Tour."
Taylor paired with in-form pro Michael Hendry in the final round, finishing a shot behind but with enough similitudes in their games to convince him he's got a shot.
"Obviously he didn't play to his top ability but we didn't do things heaps differently either. He doesn't hit it any further than me but it's his short game from 50m in that's the main difference.
"His misses are better - a couple of times he wasn't happy with a shot that still finished 10 feet from the hole - and he holes more putts, although I've been putting a lot of effort into my putting.
"My form's been solid all year but a few missed putts has been the difference between winning and finishing 10th. Jay (coach Jay Carter) identified my stance was too tall, meaning I wasn't getting the pendulum effect, and since then the rock's been rolling better."
Taylor has an eye on Europe and will spend the next few months working in his father's Bethlehem butchery to help finance his pro dream. It will cost $2000 just to play Aussie Q-school, with flights, food and accommodation extra.
A middle order rock of Bay of Plenty's interprovincial team - and unbeaten in his debut tournament in Nelson two years ago - the time was right to give the paid ranks a crack, he said.
"You can get stale spending too long as an amateur, with the danger getting stuck doing the same thing and not getting out of your comfort zone. I'm at a good age to spread my wings and start to make my way."
Stage one in Melbourne is at Sandhurst from December 14-17, with the top 30 from the initial 150 qualifiers advancing to the final stage (December 20-23) at the Peninsula (North) course.
Taylor leaves satisfied with what he's given Bay of Plenty golf, although the organisation had reciprocated in a far bigger way, he said. "Bay's helped me out immensely in developing my game, which is the reason we do so well as a province, but I doubt me leaving is going to leave too big a hole.
"There's still guys like Andrew (Stewart), Brad (Kendall), Landyn (Edwards) and Kieran (Muir) here, and the programme bringing the next tier through is so good.
"I'm pretty confident we'll keep pumping good players out."