Nick Tull has become another amateur to fly the Sussex nest.

He has joined his Worthing clubmate Scott Nightingale, the county champion, to gain experience on the Sunshine Tour.

Already doing the rounds in Southern Africa are Mark Hilton, from Lewes, Bognor's Ryan Fenwick and another fledgling pro, Ed Burlison-Rush, who plays out of East Sussex National.

Of the group, Hilton and Fenwick came closest to winning European Tour cards in Spain last month.

That they acquitted themselves well before venturing further afield must give them hope of making the grade when the qualifying test comes round again next November.

Nigel Harrington, also from Worthing, has found the road hard as a rookie on the minor tours and, I imagine, he was a lot happier on the amateur circuit. But he is no quitter and is treating his new status as a learning curve.

Tull's change of status is a surprise as his short amateur career is not exactly studded with a list of victories at the top level. He was a good winner at Singing Hills in May of the Sussex Champion of Champions Trophy and made Worthing his second claim club from Goodwood shortly before the start of last season.

But turning professional is an entirely different business than playing county golf. Nevertheless, a young man must find out the hard way if he has the game and temperament to stand up to playing for a living. Before Joe Doherty broke his wrist, he seriously thought about trying for his Tour card.

But he then chose to remain amateur at Worthing with two Sussex titles behind him and settle down into a job and shoulder domestic responsibilities.

The challenge now facing the Sussex Five has been hard to resist and they all have enough bottle to cast early disappointments aside.

Hilton and Fenwick see putting as the key and the short game is surely where the path to excellence lies.

Jamie Spence as a youngster vowed to try harder than ever and needed five visits to the qualifying school before getting onto the Tour. Gary Evans, winner of two Lytham Trophies and the English Amateur Strokeplay, overcame a persistent wrist injury to retain his card and both he and Jamie are role models for the younger generation of Sussex wannabees.

With Tull and Scott Nightingale relinquishing amateur status that creates a slight problem for Eric Reekie, manager of Worthing's Davies and Tate Trophy team.

However, two newcomers from outside the county with handicaps of two and three respectively have joined and the biggest club in Sussex isn't exactly short of up and coming juniors and colts.

In South Africa, Nightingale was satisfied with shooting three-under par in the qualifying for his first tourney only to register 77 and 74 and miss the cut while Tull did not get that far.