Amateur Gunn Yang to be tested at NSW Open as he prepares for US Masters Aiming high: Gunn Yang will tee up in the NSW Open, starting on Thursday. Photo: Dave Tease He is bound for Augusta and the US Masters in April but, for now ,South Korean Gunn Yang has to juggle online university exams with tournaments like this week's NSW Open. After being crowned the US Amateur champion in August, Yang, who was No. 776 in the world amateur rankings before that win, earned spots in the 2015 Masters, US Open and British Open. The 20-year-old from San Diego State University, is now completing a bachelor of psychology by correspondence, and will be completing exams during this week's NSW Open at the Stonecutters Ridge Golf Club before the Australian Open at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney over the next fortnight. World No.1 Rory McIlroy. While he will be playing in the majors next year, Yang is already planning to return to university in September, not willing to rush into turning pro. "I'm going to play all the majors then go back to school and go back to normal life after that," Yang said. I haven't thought about turning pro. People have been asking me about it but I'm trying to be patient and get my game level a little higher and compete. I'm not in a hurry or anything. I've taken a leave of absence from the team. I'm thinking of coming back to school next year. I'm still taking classes and I still have exams this week actually. Yang, who moved up to No. 99 on the world amateur rankings after his triumph in August, will tee off on Thursday morning alongside Peter Lonard and Ashley Hall, with the hope of sticking around for the weekend. "I just want to make cut first of all because I haven't made any cuts other than the Asia-Pacific Amateur," Yang said. I'm trying to make the cut, then we'll see how it goes after that. I'm just comparing myself and working out which part of my game I need to improve on. Playing against pros is really helpful. The mental approach, how I manage my game, how I play smarter - those are the lessons I'm gaining. He also has one eye on the Australian Open, keen to reunite with Adam Scott after he was paired with last year's Australian Open runner-up at the Japan Open last month. "Last time I played with Adam Scott up in Japan, my short game wasn't too bad against Adam, but it was all about where I put the ball in play and how I hit off the tee and club decisions," he said. He travelled to Japan two days before the tournament from Houston but from my point of view he played pretty good. Being in the field with him and Rory McIlroy is something special. I never expected myself to be in the same field as them. Hopefully I can stay there with one of them. Lonard said he didn't know too much about Yang but offered some advice ahead of his trip to Augusta. "These kids are really good now and there's a lot of them," Lonard said. They're so well taught and travelled so far and played so much golf, this kid is only 20 or something, but he's probably at the stage at 20 where I was at 32. Augusta is all about preparation. It's very different to most courses, that's what I felt when I played there. You very rarely hit anything off flat lies, so there's a lot of downhill lies and uphill lies. If he's long that will definitely be an advantage because that's definitely for the long-hitters, that place. You putt a lot up over tiers. The thing that I was hopeless with and have been all my life is putting up over tiers, and that's all you do at Augusta. But it's a great atmosphere, so it will be one of the greatest moments of his life.