FORMER Clacton schoolboy Jonathan Hewett is about to embark on a professional golf career in America, playing in the West-Florida Tour.

Hewett, who started playing at Clacton Golf Club when he was 11, has, for the last four years, been studying for an economics degree while on a golfing scholarship at De Paul University, in Chicago.

Before heading off on his scholarship in 2013, he was a finalist at the 2012 Champions of England Golf’s National Skills Challenge, as well as winning Clacton's junior (2012) and men’s championships (2013 and 2015).

While studying for his A-levels at Colchester Sixth Form College, he was a two-time finalist at the British College Championship and took third place at the European Junior Open.

“I did quite well in my A-levels but was also very keen to progress a career as a golfer," said Hewett.

"Mum and dad, as you would expect, were keen for me to have a back-up plan, so to be able to combine getting a good degree with playing golf was a dream come true for me.

"My ambition has always been to join the US PGA Tour and I'm going to work very hard to achieve that but if I don’t make it I now have a really good degree to fall back on.”

The DePaul University golf team is called the Blue Demons.

As a freshman (year one), Hewett helped the Nike-sponsored Blue Demons to the golf academic national championship and he captained the team in his senior year - 2016/17.

He was a member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for three years in a row, making the first team in his senior year, and, in 2015, as a sophomore (year two), he advanced to the sectional qualifier for the US Open.

Now that his time with the Blue Demons has come to an end, Hewett will follow his dream and pursue a career as a professional golfer.

This is an exciting new chapter for him but, going forward alone, without the support of his team-mates, may not be all plain sailing.

“Breaking into the world of any professional sport is filled with uncertainty and one thing that can be guaranteed is that there is always going to be expense attached to it," he said.

"That is why being able to secure the support of corporate partners, such as Thompson Smith and Puxon (TSP) Solicitors, is absolutely vital to my chance of future success.

"I'm very grateful to the directors at TSP, who are supporting me now, but who have also supported me in the past, and I sincerely hope that I will be able to repay their faith in me with some success.”

Hewett’s first “solo” event of the summer, while still an amateur, was the Cook County Amateur in Chicago, at the end of June, in which he placed second, following a play-off for the title.

“It was not the first place I was after but I was still really pleased with my performance," he said.

"The three days of 36 holes each day was a gruelling test but it was good to get experience of matchplay format under my belt.”

At the end of July, Hewett moved from his Chicago base to Tampa, Florida and is now practising as much as he can for the start his professional career, playing in the West Florida Golf Tour.

He already has six tournaments scheduled between the middle of August and the end of September.