Exciting Australian teen golfer Ryan Ruffels has turned pro to take on the US PGA Tour.
Australia's top amateur, the 17-year-old will leave for the US next week to prepare for his professional debut.
He's already secured two invitations to play on golf's biggest stage.
Ruffels will contest the Farmers Insurance Open from January 28 at San Diego's famous Torrey Pines course where he won the world junior title in 2014, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods and Jason Day.
He will play his second event a fortnight later at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, also in California.
Ruffels is confidents of getting another five Tour starts to reach his permitted maximum of seven invitations this season.
To secure a Tour card he must, within those seven starts, match the 125th-ranked finisher on FedEx Cup points from last season - a mark held by Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa.
The young Victorian, who is the son of tennis players Ray and Anna-Maria (Fernandez), said he was anxious to make the move.
"For probably two to three months I've been set on this particular time and it's pretty exciting it's finally here," Ruffels said.
"As much as the amateur stuff is great, and I'll always cherish those tournament wins, the real stuff is going to be on the pro tour and I'm glad I'm going to get into that now."
