Curtis Luck has farewelled a highly decorated amateur career with an even par final round at The Masters and is ready to join the Pro ranks.

2016 was a phenomenal year for the young West Australian; it started by winning his State Open against the Professionals on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, it was epitomised with his win at the U.S. Amateur Championship and he placed an exclamation mark on it by winning the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

Fast forward to this week and Luck drove up Magnolia Lane the Number 1 Amateur in the world and had a first round tee time alongside Defending Champion Danny Willett.

He fired rounds of 78, 72, 75, 72 to finish his Major debut on 9-over the card and tied 46^th. While Luck didn’t make a trip to the Butler Cabin he was happy with his week.

“I would have loved to have an under par round here, but not quite.  So I’ll have to do it hopefully next year,” said Luck.

“To battle through and 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, just we’ll see and reassess in six months and that will be a good idea of where I’m at,” added Luck, who now has a greater appreciation for the challenge of Augusta National.

“I’m usually a pretty big critic when I watch it on TV, watch any golf on TV. So, now after playing that back-9 and through Amen Corner, I have a really good understanding, because I’ve played it in tournament golf and how tough it can be.

“If I ever watch the Masters again from the sidelines, I will not be judging so harshly.”

Now it is all looking forward for Luck who will make his Pro debut at the Valero Texas Open in two weeks.

“I started playing competitive amateur golf when I was about 14, 15.  So, just over five years to here.  I’m ready to go,” added Luck.

“I thought I was ready five months ago, I guess.  I had entered Tour school for last year in Japan and Europe.  Then I won the U.S. Amateur and Asian Amateur, which put a halt on that concept.

“But, yeah, 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, I feel like I’m ready to compete at this level.

“I’m excited to try and make some money and I’m excited to make my way through the pro ranks, or at least give it a good crack.”

By joining the Professional ranks Luck forfeits his place at The Open and U.S. Open Championship but will still try his hand at qualifying.

“We’re just going through the process of trying to collect invites for the PGA TOUR. Right now we have 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.

“We’ll just keep doing that and hopefully if I keep playing well I’ll keep getting them.

“It just depends on my schedule and what invites I get.  But I probably am looking at British Open qualifying, I know there’s a qualifier straight after Memorial in Ohio the next day, which works out great, because I’ll be at Memorial.”

Leaving Augusta National and his amateur career behind, Luck will always have special memories of his debut at The Masters.

“It’s been an amazing week.  I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly.  I’m hoping that I’ll be here in the future; hopefully next year would be very nice,” added Luck.

“It’s been great and to go out, obviously, as my last amateur round at the Masters is pretty special.”