Promising to take his parents Peter and Liz Smylie out for dinner with part of his first professional pay cheque for $7,350, Smylie’s first event as a professional was one of the most eagerly anticipated in recent years, and the 18-year-old left-hander didn’t fail to disappoint.

Only four players returned better scores on Sunday than Smylie’s bogey-free 6-under 65, his final total of 15-under par three shots back of Andrew Martin’s record-breaking round that secured the biggest win of his 15-year professional career.

But Smylie is just getting started and with his father managing his affairs, knows there are bigger things to come.

Booked in to play next week’s Queensland Open at Pelican Waters Golf Club and the NSW Open at Concord Golf Club at the end of the month, Smylie gave the indication that he will have the chance to take his game to the world at some stage in 2021.

“There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I don’t really know about,” said Smylie, who was runner-up at the TPS Victoria event last month while still an amateur.

“My job is to play the best golf I possibly can and then everything else will take care of itself.

“I can say for a fact that it is looking very exciting. It’s going to be a good year, I can tell. A lot of opportunities and I’m going to grab it with two hands and do as best I can with that.”

Four dropped shots in the space of two holes late in his third round on Saturday proved costly for Smylie but the way he responded on Sunday will serve as another important stepping stone in establishing his professional credentials.

“The 14 tee shot I hit OB onto the range. I just hit this smothered draw and just completely switched off mentally,” Smylie said of his triple bogey at the par-5 14th on Saturday.

“Times like that are going to happen, you’re going to hit shots like that and they’re not going to happen at a good time. It happened to me on Saturday in the third round and if I could have those four shots back, I would have been pretty close to winning today.

“Everything is still sinking in right now. Obviously I didn’t win but I felt like I gave myself the best chance at winning. I did all the right stuff, I was really aggressive coming down the stretch, there were no shots that I regret not hitting.

“I’m not thinking about the negatives, I’m thinking about the positives and there were a lot of them next week.”

As for his first pay day as a pro, the impressive teen who works part-time at Southport Golf Club had only one thought as to a good way to spend part of it.

“It’s all new for me, I’ll probably shout my parents dinner,” he said.

“That should be a start as a way of saying thanks for everything they have done for me.”