New Al Ain Open champion Josh Hill is presented with his trophies by Al Ain Equestrian Shooting and Golf Club’s Tom Buchanan. Photo; Joy Chakravarty/MENA Tour. 

By Kent Gray
Six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo and former Masters champion Danny Willett have led the tributes after Josh Hill wrote himself into golf’s history books on Wednesday.

Willett, the DP World Tour Championship’s defending champion and former Omega Dubai Desert Classic champion took to Twitter not long after Hill had eclipsed Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa as the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) event at the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open on Wednesday.

RELATED: Dubai amateur Josh Hill sets world record as youngest winner of OWGR event

After Hill’s earlier win in the Faldo Series Middle East Championship, also at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club, a response from six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo duly followed.

Respected Scotland golf journalist Martin Dempster was also quick to trumpet Hill’s achievement on the very same day as the Royal and Ancient game is debating the place of juniors in the game in the U.K.

The news also spread to the United States where Former Butch Harmon School of Golf Dubai Director of Instruction Justin Parsons hailed Hill’s feat and the contribution his now Claude Harmon III Performance Golf Academy coaches have played in it.

They were even talking about it in Northern Ireland.

There was a classy message later from English professional Harry Ellis who was left to contemplate his second runner-up finish in as many MENA Tour starts.