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By Kent Gray
You wouldn’t begrudge Josh Hill even a momentary leak of emotion given the amateur’s giddy Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic debut thus far. Instead, the 17-year-old is impressively flat-lining his way through the biggest week of his young career.
A three-under 69 on Saturday made the Dubai-born world record holder one of the more noteworthy climbers on moving day at the $8 million Rolex Series event, up to a share of 23rd place. You may be familiar with a few names surrounding the Trump Dubai club member on the leaderboard: Open champion Shane Lowry and 2020 Dubai victor Lucas Herbert are also on three-under. Former Masters champion Adam Scott and Collin Morikawa, the current world No.2? They’re only a single shot to the good.
Excited? Hill surely must be but it’s hard to tell with that veteran game face masking his actual adolescent one. Like he did at Yas Links last week, when Hill made three birdies in his final four holes to make a first DP World Tour cut on the number, he’s taking it all in his stride. When you’ve been on the fast-track to a professional career since childhood, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. You’ve pounded thousands of balls to get here after all.
Making the weekend in Abu Dhabi gave Hill the confidence that he truly belongs and he’s making the most of it in this week’s comfy surroundings on the Majlis.
“I hit it a lot better today than I did yesterday. I think a quick range session last night was important and it showed today. I had the same amount of control on the ball as I did in the first round,” Hill said in an answer encompassing his scores of 70-74-69 heading into Sunday.
Even the way Hill dead-batted his post-round media huddle was striking, like a player who’s been around the block a bit rather than someone who still needs parental approval to leave the house.
He could easily have been sucked into a teenage gaff when a reporter jokingly asked if he’d like a “blow up” the notoriously difficult 9th ala Tyrrell Hatton after his repeated run-ins with the 18th at Yas Links.
After dropping four shots in three visits to the par-4 so far, including a three-putt bogey in the third round, the England international has every right to feel a bit miffed with the outward nine’s final, water-guarded hole. Bernd Wiesberger, Paul Casey and Richard Bland all found H2O later to highlight the difficulty. But Hill is clearly as level-headed as he is hard-working, giving a thoughtful answer with zero chance of causing offence.
“I think it’s the hardest hole on the course but I think it’s a fair hole and If you hit a good shot, you’re going to get rewarded as well, if you hit a bad shot… so I wouldn’t say I’d want to bomb it. Of course I’d like to take it off my scorecard but you can’t do that, so…”
“Pretty annoyed” by the three-putt, Hill regathered himself to birdie his next three holes – with an 8 iron into the par-5 10th, a 9-iron to a foot on the par-3 11th and then a chip-in three on 14. There was a sloppy bogey on 16 but Hill rallied again to finish with a flourish.
“I wanted a birdie down 18. I mean I hit a bad two-iron but it ended up in a perfect spot and I made a nice up and down so it was a good finish and a good way to get into tomorrow.”
Hill faded to a share of 58th in Abu Dhabi so will be hoping to comfortably better than in Dubai. Surely though, with all the big names around you, you must be feeling the blow torch of expectation?
“I feel like I normally do in a normal tournament to be honest,” the youngest winner of an OWGR event, the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open in 2019, said with another of his matter-of-fact responses.
Sure, but how are you going to approach Sunday? “Play good golf. There’s not much to think about, it’s just another round of golf, isn’t it. Just go and play golf and see what happens.
“There’s just a few bigger names around me but I haven’t let that affect me. I’m just playing like it’s another amateur championship.”
“Like it’s the Abu Dhabi Amateur championship [which Hill won to qualify for last week’s Role Series event at Yas Links],” a reporter posed. “Yeah, just like it’s the club champs,” Hill said, breaking into a rare laugh.
There it was. The kid does have a pulse after all. And, after this week, a new legion of admirers as well.
