The Open star Ashley Chesters eyes pro turn

Chesters produced the best performance of the four amateurs at Hoylake, but his three-over-par two round total of 147 was one to many to make the cut for the weekend and win the Silver Medal.

The Hawkstone Park golfer returned to his Wem home as soon as his fate was sealed on Friday evening and has spent the weekend balancing the pride at his excellent performance with the disappointment of coming within a whisker of qualifying for the final two rounds.

But after watcing Rory McIlroy take the Claret Jug by two shots yesterday, the 24-year-old's focus is on the future.

Chesters' immediate targets will be next week's English Amateur Championship at Saunton, defending his European Championship at St Andrews and attempting to force his way into the England team for the Home Internationals and the Great Britain & Ireland team for the St Andrews Trophy.

He will then look towards attending Qualifying School for the European Tour in September, where he will look to battle through three stages to take his place alongside the world's elite in 2015.

"There are some big amateur events coming up and I will go to Tour School," said Chesters.

"I will probably go to Tour School as an amateur because that keeps my options open, but I would certainly like to turn professional at some point. Last week was fantastic and, while I know all tournaments aren't as big as that, I want to be playing in the big professional events if I can."

Chesters admitted his disappointment at missing the cut by a single stroke but found huge positives in his performance, most notably in an opening round of 70 which left him in the top 20 at the end of day one.

"There are areas I need to improve on but, on the whole, I didn't feel I was too far away," he added.

"The disappointing thing was getting so close to winning the Silver Medal. If you miss it by lots of shots, you don't really think about it but, when it's by one shot, you go through it all the time."