Shooting star Stephanie Kyriacou ready for leap to golf’s pro ranks

If you can beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s the decision being weighed up by young NSW amateur golfer Stephanie Kyriacou with a switch to the professional ranks brewing.

• Amateur teen Stephanie Kyriacou a pro at winning
• Olympics next goal for medal winner Green
• Boutier holds nerve to take Classic

Shooting star Steph Kyriacou seems certain to take the dream leap into pro golf this week to take full advantage of her gold pass into Europe.

The Sydney amateur and caddie-father Nick will have a key meeting in Dubbo on Tuesday to understand all the bonuses unlocked by her stunning win last Sunday.

Her sustained shot-making and peerless putting to thrash a top pro field by eight shots at the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville was eye-popping.

Watch LIVE coverage of the USPGA & European PGA Tours and over 50 other sports on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou and caddie-father Nick after her closing 65 to win the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville. Photo: Dave Tease, Golf NSW

Now the high emotion of the champagne shower on the 18th green has subsided, the biggest decision of the 19-year-old’s career has to be made calmly and clearly.

She will sit down on Tuesday with ALPG chief executive Karen Lunn and Stacey Peters, Golf Australia’s Female Pathway Manager, to discuss turning pro.

If she does by Thursday, she will have the chance to turn her hot form into her first pay cheque at Dubbo’s NSW Women’s Open, which is part of the Ladies European Tour.

Turning pro would allow her to take up her winner’s exemption to play on the LET for 2020 and 2021, including several events co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour.

“We’ve known for a while how good Steph is and been able to provide her with starts in pro events, so it wouldn’t be so scary when she did decide to switch,” Lunn said.

“You can be taught a lot in golf but you can’t be shown how to win and she did that with great composure at Bonville.

“This is potentially a huge change in her life but she’s shown she can handle it.

“To me, the decision is a no-brainer.”

Winner Stephanie Kyriacou hits a short iron into the 18th green during the final round of the Australian Ladies Classic at beautiful Bonville. Photo: Tristan Jones

Kyriacou revealed she was hoping to turn pro at the end of the year anyway by trying her luck at qualifying school for a major tour.

Kyriacou can now bypass all that or, as Lunn said, “skip that pressure stage where career plans are on the line with all the uncertainty of Q-school”.

Every year, scores of young Aussie hopefuls fail to advance to the big stage at women’s qualifying schools in Europe, Japan and the US.

They return to play the pro-ams and the four four-round tournaments that make up the local ALPG circuit.

Some make some nice cheques and others simply find the economic realities too hard to make multiple bids abroad to Q-schools.

Co-sanctioning events with the LET has meant the Australian Ladies Classic, NSW Women’s Open and Vic Open have become a massive potential springboard into Europe.

Kyriacou is the first young Aussie to truly grab the chance.

“Absolutely, we worked hard on getting the co-sanctioning with the LET so we could provide more playing opportunities for our members,” Lunn said.

The Australian Ladies Classic has also taken majestic Bonville Golf Resort, outside Coffs Harbour, to a much broader audience on TV.

The course is rated at No.34 on Australian Golf Digest’s 2020 list of the country’s top 100 courses but always higher for sheer beauty and spectacle.

Stunning vista...the fourth hole framed by the towering trees that give Bonville a special quality across the whole course outside Coffs Harbour. Photo: Supplied

It is one of the gems of Australian golf with fairways framed by towering trees and dramatic elevation changes on different holes like the teasing par five closing hole.

On some holes it does give you the best hint of Augusta National you will find in Australia if you ignore the resident kookaburras.

A member of the St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney, you can see the same swing to Kyriacou’s iron play as Australian Open winner Matt Jones.

That’s no coincidence when they share Gary Barter as a top coach.

It will be a bold jump to the pro ranks but Kyriacou has proven to herself she is ready.

As major winner Hannah Green tweeted during Bonville’s final round: “Cmon @Stephkyriacou2 you got this.”