RICHARD McEvoy will look to build upon an impressive start to the PGA Tour campaign when he competes in the Joburg Open today.

The Thorpe Hall Golf Club professional made his first appearance on the European Tour for close to three months when he was involved in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last week.

Despite an extended absence from the European Tour - with his last outing coming at the D+D REAL Czech Masters - McEvoy got his season off to a promising start.

The 38-year-old was able to finish in joint-32nd place, having completed all four rounds of the 18 hole course four under par.

And McEvoy is looking forward to testing himself at Randpark Golf Club.

McEvoy, who has been in Johannesburg since the start of the week, said: “The Joburg Open is played over two courses at the same venue but there is a larger field of about 240 golfers, which is massive.

“The larger amount of players will make it interesting when it comes to cuts.

“But I go into the competition pleased with how I performed in Mauritius.

“I played there two years ago and there couldn’t be a better place to go and play golf. It is such a beautiful place.

“I got some good practice in and I played some solid golf so I was pleased.”

The 38-year-old was able to pocket close to £7,000 in prize winnings after his fine performance in Mauritius, while he also notched 8,930 Race to Dubai points.

McEvoy finished round one three under par and was tied for 20th place.

But McEvoy was two over par, having required 73 shots, in round two.

And the Shoebury golfer needed 69 and 70 strokes to complete rounds three and four respectively, and finished all four rounds of the event in 280 shots.

Despite making a promising start to the campaign, McEvoy has not set himself a specific target for the months ahead.

McEvoy added: “I’m ready for a break already but my ranking is not great at the moment, so I felt like I needed to play these two events to get my name on the board and get the ball rolling.

“I’ve got to take advantage of the competitions I get into.

“I’m not sure what I am going to do at the moment - I will probably play in a few European Tour events but then, depending on how I do, I could go across to the Challenge Tour.

“I was disappointed to not come in the Challenge Tour’s top 15 after winning the Scottish Hydro Challenge in July. I ended up coming 21st.

“The Challenge Tour has a lot of good up-and-coming golfers so it’s not necessarily where you want to be when you’re 38. But I’m going to see how I get on in the meantime and take it from there.”

The Basildon-born Daniel Brooks will also be in action at the Joburg Open.