“It’s been an absolutely crazy year, but to have a bit of success is really cool. I started the year in Portugal and won the Faldo Series. At the end of March I went to the French boys’ championship and reached the semi-finals and from then on it was pretty tough.”

He continued: “These years are great, I’m having fun and I’m successful, but really these are all development years for when I’m 22 or 23 and hopefully I’ll be ready to take my game to that (professional) level.”

Among the players Rusbridge looks up to are joint Open runner-up Justin Rose and Olympic silver medallist Tommy Fleetwood – as well as Essex Tour pros Matt Southgate and Richard McEvoy.

“When you see the paths they have taken, it is not far from the path I could take,” he said.

He first joined a club at the age of three or four, but until the Covid pandemic in 2020, football was his greatest sporting interest.

“That’s when I started playing golf and I’ve been pretty obsessed with it ever since. I started playing in national tournaments and, in recent years, international tournaments.

“It can definitely be lonely at times, you really have to do everything yourself, but I definitely enjoy the team aspect with England or GB and Ireland.”

Rusbridge is coached by his father Scott, who says of his son’s hopes of turning professional: “You have to take it one step at a time and if you successfully climb each of those rungs on the ladder, you have a good chance of making a career out of it.”

He added: “I am a professional golfer by profession, but unfortunately I had to give up the title of best golfer in the family about 18 months ago – that was a difficult moment!”