IT was always Callum Tarren’s ambition to play on one of the main Tours and he has edged a step closer to achieving his goal, even if it has meant travelling thousands of miles to keep his hopes alive.

He spent much of January 5,000 miles away from his County Durham home and he return there at the end of April after securing one of 15 full cards for the PGA China Tour, which opens the door to playing in the USA.

Tarren’s 286 two-under total after four rounds in the China Tour global qualifying tournament was enough to see him finish tied fourth to book his place on the relatively new Tour for 2016, where he will be joined by Middlesbrough’s Michael Skelton.

The Darlington pro, who is attached to Wynyard Golf Club and works at Rockliffe Hall, is back in the North-East putting the work in to prepare for his trip to the Far East in a couple of months’ time.

This is the boost he has wanted since graduating from Radford University in the States in marketing with a minor in finance, because if he can seal a top five place on the PGA China Tour it will see him play in the Web.com Tour; one step away from the full PGA Tour.

“The goal is and always has been to get to the top and this year will see me go to China,” said the 25-year-old. “Because of the scheduling of the events, I can also play in the EuroPro Tour over here and go to Tour School later in the year to try to get my European Tour card.

“The plan was to turn pro after university a couple of years ago and I have always wanted to get on the PGA Tour, so the China Tour is a way of trying to do that. As well as the five full cards available to the top five for the Web.com Tour there is a further five conditional cards.

“But I need sponsorship. It will cost me around £15,000 to get over there and play in the events. That’s about the same sort of figure I would need to play on the EuroPro Tour, believe it or not, for the full year.”

The sponsorship issue is a crucial factor. Tarren has made up his mind he will be going regardless of how he raises the money, but to find a backer or backers would help his preparation.

“I need to raise the money from somewhere,” he said. “Myself and James Maw, who is a member at Rockliffe who also went out to China, got a bit of help from a couple of members to help us go there last time, but I will need to raise more this time.

“The PGA China Tour will be on the Golf Channel and on national TV in China so there will be good exposure for sponsors to have their names or logos on my clothing/bags.

“Whatever happens I will be going anyway. I will raise the money somehow because it is too good an opportunity to miss as I aim to get to the top. But to find the sponsors would be great - and take a weight off my shoulders.”

Even though there will be a chunk of the summer where he will be back in England playing on the EuroPro Tour, Tarren admits the length of time he will spend in China will be completely different for him.

His first couple of weeks in the Kunming Province for the qualifying event has at least prepared him for life on the other side of the world.

“It was a bit different out there,” said Tarren. “I was based in Kunming and that was a connecting flight from Beijing, and the food was a bit dodgy. I will have to get used to that, I was having chow mein and eggs for breakfast; I don’t think I can be doing that every day.

“But I will be doing everything I can to be ready and in good shape for when I do travel out there. I will practice and work on my game until I go back for the first tournament in May.”

He explained: “At the end of last year I thought ‘I need to give this my all to play on Tour’, so I started doing a bit of research into what I could do. That’s how I ended up in China.

“People don’t know too much about it because it’s a relatively new Tour, it’s only been going for a few years, but it’s a feeder Tour and becoming more popular.

“The money is also three times what you can earn on the EuroPro Tour, which is a good Tour in itself, but you need to find the money to play somehow. They both cost as much to play in all the tournaments really.”

If you are interested in sponsoring, contact callumtarrengolf@gmail.com or call 07964 321685.