Troy Lunderman is hoping a stint on a Native American golf tour can lead to bigger and better things.

Lunderman, a 2000 graduate of Todd County High School, will make his pro debut today during the First Nations Golf Association's Salt River Pima Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"It's an all-Native American Tour," Lunderman, who currently lives in Phoenix, said. "I found out about it from my best friend, Cory Jensen, who did a couple of events on the tour."

The tour makes stops in places such as Pendleton, Ore., Lewiston, Idaho, and Oneida, Wis., and has been around for a few years.

"Right now it is getting better just for the fact people are noticing the tour," Lunderman said. "The prize money is guaranteed. So you don't have to worry about (events) being cancelled. The tour is maturing and if it keeps going like it is going it's a good deal."

Lunderman said he wants to use this year on the tour as a way to gauge himself as a player.

"My goals right now are I want to make the tour championship and kind of see where I'm at as a player," he said. "I would like to play the Dakotas Tour and The Gateway Tour, a tour that runs mostly in Arizona, southern California."

Lunderman said purses on the FNGA range between $50,000 to $60,000 and there are as many as 60 to 70 golfers that participate on a weekly basis. The tour also features a Pro-Am each week.

"(The money) is not bad, it's pretty decent money," Lunderman said. "But you've got to make the cut to get paid. It's a nice tour, and it is the first of its kind."

Lunderman, who is set to graduate from the Golf Academy of America in April, played golf in high school and went to Huron University before taking some time off to figure things out after Huron University closed its doors in 2005.

Lunderman enters today's first round as a 1- to 2-handicap. Not bad for a high school golfer who was forced to use donated clubs and practice in an old potato field.

"The nearest golf course was in Bennett County, which was too far to be bused every day, so we practiced in an old potato field," he said. "It was successful."

For now, though, Lunderman is just eager to see where playing the sport can take him.

"It will be a good spot for me to start, see where I'm at," he said.