Chris Wood, who won the silver medal as the leading amateur at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale nine days ago, announced yesterday that he had turned professional - then joked that he is looking forward to “chasing down Tiger Woods”.

At 20, Wood has a long career ahead of him, but he decided that now was as good a time as any to join the paid ranks. His confidence is high and he should have little trouble securing invitations to tournaments between now and the end of the season.

Wood, who will be managed by ISM, which numbers Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke among its clients, will be allowed to play in up to seven events on the European Tour, starting at the SAS Masters in Stockholm next month, and will be hoping to earn enough money - about €230,000 (£181,000) - to secure full playing privileges for 2009. If he fails to do so, he will attempt to win his card at Qualifying School in Spain in November.

At 6ft 5in, Wood will stand out among his peers, but it is his game that he hopes will attract most comment. Like many young sportsmen, he displays a fearlessness that could be mistaken for arrogance but is a vital ingredient to success at the highest level. His ambitions ten years hence, he said, will be “winning major championships”.

Expert View

If the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, the Open was won on the practice ground at Largs

John Hopkins

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BACKGROUND

• Harrington joins the list of Open greats

• Two strokes of genius, one happy man

• Champion shows mettle with defining shots

• Losing proves a habit for Norman

BACKGROUND

• Harrington's Open battle won in Largs

• Poulter more than mouth and trousers

• No losers at windswept Birkdale

• Test of skills for which few were equipped

BACKGROUND

• Westwood diverts blame for missed opportunity

• Wood emerges among the elite

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• Harrington's Open battle won in Largs

“I've proved that I can virtually win them at the moment,” he said yesterday. “It's down to experience, though I also have a lot of improving to do. And then I'll chase down Tiger.”

Playing alongside Ian Poulter, who finished runner-up to Padraig Harrington, on the final day at Birkdale, Wood was only three strokes off the lead around the turn before three bogeys in the middle of the back nine scuppered his chances. After a round of 72, he finished on ten over par and an impressive joint fifth with Jim Furyk, of the United States.

It is hard not to compare Wood with Justin Rose ten years earlier. At Birkdale in 1998, Rose finished tied for fourth at the Open as a 17-year-old amateur after he famously pitched in for a birdie at the 18th hole in the fourth round. Wood had his own “Rose moment” when he chipped in at the same hole in the second round and floated on the applause.

Rose's experience is also a salutary one. He turned professional the day after the Open but struggled to cope with his, and others', expectations, missing the halfway cut in his first 21 tournaments. Like Rose, Wood has a good amateur pedigree. He climbed to No2 in the amateur world rankings on the back of his Open performance and won the English Golf Union (EGU) order of merit in 2007 before going on to win the Russian Amateur Championship and Welsh Open Strokeplay Championship. A member at the Long Ashton Club in Bristol since the age of 9, he had a single-figure handicap by 12.

“The biggest benefit of being a good amateur is that you travel the world to play and are treated like professionals,” Wood said. “I was very fortunate. The EGU helped with coaching, travel and funding.” So, does he have any doubts about his decision? “Not really,” he said. “It's still golf, but in a different environment. I could think of nothing else I'd rather do.”

Among his strengths, Wood said, is a strong mind. “I never give up. However bad I'm hitting it, I'm always trying to get it round. I grind it out all the time.”

It is a trait that he will soon be calling on. As players such as Rory McIlroy, the leading amateur at the Open last year, and Oliver Fisher have discovered, once you get into the professional ranks, the learning process begins all over again. First the best survive, then they thrive. Wood is right to think that he will be joining them.

How some of the Open's leading amateurs have fared as professionals

Tiger Woods (Royal Lytham and St Annes, 1996) Arguably the best player in history, has won 14 major championships and is closing in on Jack Nicklaus's record of 18

David Dixon (Royal Lytham and St Annes, 2001) Seven years after performing so well at Lytham, the Englishman, 31, secured his maiden victory this year at the St Omer Open

Justin Rose (Royal Birkdale, 1998) Missed first 21 cuts as a pro but finished Europe's No1 in 2007 and has climbed into world top ten

Rory McIlroy (Carnoustie, 2007) Yet to win as a professional, the teenager from Northern Ireland is getting to grips with life as a pro. Lies 80th in Order of Merit