Cassidy adopts pro-active stance

ASIAN TOUR: For someone who has spent much of her working life administrating in a professional golfing environment, Yvonne Cassidy's decision to swap computers and pens for clubs in order to earn her living will really kick home later this week when she flies out to the Far East for a four-week stint on the Asian Women's Tour.

Cassidy, a former Irish amateur international, swapped her day job as an administrator with the Irish Region PGA late last year to chase her dream on the professional circuit. Next Saturday, accompanied by another former Irish international Hazel Kavanagh, Cassidy departs for Taiwan: the pair have earned places in the field for next week's Taiwan Open and then will play in the Bangkok Open, Malaysian Open and Indonesian Open in successive weeks.

Although Kavanagh will get to play in virtually every tournament on the European Women's Tour after finishing 10th in the qualifying school, Cassidy's status - having just missed out on a full card - means that she will be limited to "about eight invites".

Rather than wait for those invites to roll in when the European circuit gets up and running in a couple of months time, Cassidy decided to be pro-active.

"I intend to use the Asian Tour to immerse myself into the life of a full-time touring professional. It was obviously hard to give up a full-time job with the PGA, but I felt that the time had come. I have improved enormously as a golfer in recent months and I have also worked a lot on my fitness. I didn't want to sit around waiting for invites to come in, which is why the Asian Tour, which is a very good standard, is an ideal place to start," she insisted.

Indeed, there is the added incentive for both Cassidy and Kavanagh of aiming for a top-two finish on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit (the four tournaments comprise the entire programme for the fledgling circuit) as such lofty positions would earn invites to play in two events on the USLPGA Tour, one in Japan and the other in Florida.