By Kent Gray
Drawcards Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa will have their opening rounds in the books by the time Dubai amateur Josh Hill tees it up from the Majlis’ 10th tee at 12.40pm on Thursday. But even if they were lining up in the same half of the draw, you suspect the 17-year-old might have stolen a few fans away from the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic’s marquee three-ball – eight time DP World Tour winner Bernd Wiesberger included – anyway.

Hill is the toast of the region after brilliantly making three birdies in his final four holes to make the cut on the number at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The shy teen went on to make six birdies and an eagle in an eye-catching third round 69 and while slipping to a share of 58th with a closing 75, is in a confident mood heading into his Dubai debut. And why not. In addition to making his first DP World Tour cut, Hill beat world No.2 and reigning Open champion Morikawa by two shots at Yas Links.

As such, you can bet the England international will take a few followers away from defending champion Paul Casey, world No.5 Viktor Hovland and freshly-minted Abu Dhabi champion Thomas Pieters who are off the 1st tee at 12.20pm in the flagship afternoon group.

“I’ve proven to myself that I can compete with all of them even though I made some really silly mistakes that I feel like I can improve on,” Hill said after Abu Dhabi.

“Having made the cut once, I want more of the same. This was huge for my confidence…in terms of showing that my game is good enough to compete at this level. It really was a case of moving up to another level.”