Having conquered Florida, Nick Jones is setting his sights on much bigger fish.

The Bermuda golfer has decided to turn professional after winning a major amateur event in the US this past weekend, and will now focus all his energies on getting ready for the PGA Tour Q-School in 2011.

Jones came from four shots back to win the Golf Channel AM Tour's second major championship of the year on Sunday, which was held at the PGA National complex in West Palm Beach.

Top of the Callaway Order of Merit for his region, and with two regular tour victories under his belt, Jones will now test himself against journeymen professionals on the Moonlight and Hooters tours while he finishes his course at the Golf Academy in Altamonte Springs.

"Right now I'm thinking about turning pro and playing in mini tour events," said Jones, "and preparing myself to go to Q-school next year and see how I do.

"I'm planning on turning pro within the next month or so, staying in Florida and playing.

"There are a few mini tour events I am looking at and hopefully I can get my game up to par."

Turning professional means that Jones will not be able to compete in the Golf Channel's National Championships in September, however he has penciled in the Goslings Invitational as the first event he will play in Bermuda as a professional.

Everything though will be geared towards next September, and Q-School, which could lead to the PGA Tour itself, or the second tier Nationwide and Canadian Tours.

"His preparation starts now," said his father, Eardley Jones. "When he graduates next September he can then go to the Q-School, so rather than staying amateur until then, he can play against pros for the next year.

"He can only do weekends, so there are the Moonlight Tour, and the Hooters Tour. There are all these tours around Orlando, and he may play a couple of West Florida Tours as well."

And Jones Sr. is confident his son has exactly what it takes to succeed in making his dream of playing on the PGA Tour a reality.

"His coaches at the Academy are really pleased with him," he said. "They feel he can become a really good player, and he loves the game. He's really dedicated, he doesn't let mistakes get to him, and he's very in control mentally."

Jones needed every ounce of that control over the weekend, when he shot a first round 76, leaving him four shots off the lead. He bounced back though, and was the only player to shoot under par, with his second round 68 giving him a three shot victory.

"I played well the second day, I shot a four under and I was just on a roll," said Jones.

"I was hitting my irons really well and things just seemed to go my way.

"I knew heading into the second day I had to play well in order to get back into contention.

"The course we played on the second day was a lot tougher and I figured out my swing on the range.

"I knew that if I could shoot even on the day I had a chance to win."

n Dwayne Gibson took full advantage of playing the latest round of the Jack Daniels Tour at his home Belmont Hills course, shooting a three-under par 67 to win Monday's event.

Gibson finished a shot ahead of Cornell Bean and Scott Roy, while there was a three-way tie for third with Dwayne Pearman, Chris Smith and Eric West all shooting level-par 70s.