KUALA LUMPUR: One of Malaysia’s most promising young amateurs, Daeng Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz, is set to join the professional ranks.

The ClubHouse understands that the 17-year-old teenager, who was expected to lead Malaysia’s gold medal bid at the South East Asia (SEA) Games on home soil this August, has informed the Malaysian Golf Association of his decision to take the plunge.

He ends a trophy-laden amateur career at the Maybank Championship this week, where he has impressed so far against a strong co-sanctioned field and will likely make his professional debut at the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Palm Resort Championship in his native Johor next month.

“It’s an exciting period definitely and I’m looking forward to bigger challenges to come. I was fortunate to have the chance to represent the country at a very young age. The experience and international exposure has surely made me a better player, to which I owe the Malaysian Golf Association a great debt.

“Golf has been my sole focus for several years now and I have reached the point where I think my game can contend at the professional level and there is a string of strong performances to back that,” said the country’s top-ranked amateur.

Long considered a player with great potential, Daeng stamped his mark on the junior amateur scene early on, winning The ClubHouse Junior Golf Rankings presented by Titleist for two consecutive seasons, before earning a national team call-up in 2015.

In the run-up to the Singapore SEA Games that year, the youngster wrote himself into local golfing folklore when he upstaged a field full of professionals to win the PGM Danau Championship – becoming the youngest-ever player to win on the flourishing domestic circuit.

He held off the temptation of turning pro immediately after that victory – eventhough it gave him full playing status on the PGM Tour – and continued to compete as an amateur, building up his resume.

Buoyed by his victory at the Malaysian Games (SUKMA) last July, Daeng ended 2016 on a bang – winning three consecutive state amateur meets and finishing fourth at the season-ending Maybank Players’ Championship on the PGM Tour.

He followed that with a ninth placing at the PGM Sime Darby Impian Championship in January before making a much-anticipated trip to the Asian Tour Qualifying School in Thailand.

And while he fell just short off the mark, Daeng found the impetus to go pro ahead of schedule, fulfilling a dream which began the first time he picked up a club.

“After the SUKMA win, I had every thought of staying on [as an amateur] until the SEA Games at least. But I guess, I have enjoyed the challenge of competing against the professionals and I felt that I belonged. Going to [Asian Tour] Q-School was real eye-opener because you realise how high the benchmark is but I’m eager to move to the next level and realise my ambitions.

“If there’s one thing I miss would be the camaraderie of my national stablemates. They were a great bunch of guys to travel, train and play with and I wish them well at the SEA Games,” shared Daeng, who picked up the game seriously when he was six.

His preparation for the big move started much earlier, including a visit to English putting guru Phil Kenyon late last year to hone his stroke. And after a few monstrous birdies and par saves this week on the Palm Course, Daeng believes he is on the right track.

“I’ve been working on all aspects of my game but I wanted to reduce my putting average further and that is why I visited Phil. I struggled a bit with the new [putting] regime but it’s starting to fall in place and I’m feeling pretty confident on the greens right now.

For now, Daeng hopes to make an impact on the domestic circuit and has set his sights on achieving success on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

“The ADT (through its co-sanctioning agreement with the PGM Tour) would be an ideal platform for a rookie like me to find my professional footing. I like to concentrate on that for a start and look at my future options, whether its through the Asian Tour Q-School again or even, the Japan Golf Tour for the matter,” he noted.