Gavin Dear turns pro and signs

up with agent, McNicoll also

leaves amateur ranks

FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER WEBSITE
By Nick Rodger
Gavin Dear has made his first significant move as a professional golfer by signing for a management company. The 25-year-old from Scone, near Perth, who will make his pro debut in the European Tour’s qualifying school at The Oxfordshire today, has signed a deal with the Wasserman Media Group.
Dear, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who joins his Eisenhower Trophy-winning team-mate Callum Macaulay in the WMG stable, has already secured an invitation to next week’s Dunhill Links Championship and is now looking to get his career in the paid ranks up and running by making the grade at this week’s school.
“I’ve been building up for this for a while now and it already feels different,” said Dear, part of the GB&I side defeated by the USA in the Walker Cup a week ago.
“Playing for money is a new challenge, but it’s exciting. Getting the invitation to the Dunhill is a huge boost. It’s on three courses I know very well and with the big prize fund it could get me off to a really good start.”
Dear reached as high as No 12 in the R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings this summer.

Carnoustie’s Keir McNicoll, who joins Dear in The Oxfordshire field, has also turned pro, while Paul O’Hara, this year’s SGU No1, has made the step up after coming through Stage 1 of the qualifying school last week. Other players involved in qualifying today include Lloyd and Zack Saltman and Craig Matheson.