By Kent Gray
The Eisenhower Trophy only really appeared on Rayhan Thomas’ radar two years ago when Australia waltzed to their fourth title by a whopping 19-strokes in Mexico.
“After the 2016 Eisenhower, I kind of realised how big the event was,” the 18-year-old Dubai-based Indian No.1 said of the World Amateur Teams Championship.
“I saw the names of the people who have played it so set that as a goal, to try and make the 2018 team. And I’m glad I did because I’m 100 per cent sure this is going to be a great event.”
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Fast-forward to 8.07am (11.07am UAE time) on Wednesday and it will be mission accomplished for Thomas when he tees it up in the 31st Eisenhower Trophy at Carton House in Ireland, following in the spike marks of many of the game’s biggest names including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The MENA Tour trailblazer has been grouped with Brazilian Henrik Machado and Dutchman Nordin van Tilburg for the first two rounds of the 72-hole teams’ strokeplay event, on the O’Meara course Wednesday and Carton House’s Montgomerie layout on Thursday.
Thomas is joined by Aadil Bedi and Kshitij Naveed Kaul in Ireland after the trio helped India finish seventh in the recent Asian Games in Indonesia.
Bedi and Thomas placed T-13 individually in Jakarta and while Thomas slipped from fifth place after 36 holes, he’s more than happy with his form heading into the Eisenhower.
“I think I played really well for two days and even struck it well on the third day in the middle part [of his round] but it just wasn’t my week,” Thomas said after signing for rounds of 71-69-73-73 at Pondok Indah Golf & Country Club.
“I still think it is a good trend going forward and I think the game is finally coming together nicely, it’s not very far away, it’s just around the corner.”
India’s performance came in for some harsh criticism by the country’s sports media but Thomas typically handed the barbs with his usual level-headedness.
“There’s not much more we could have given our country I don’t think. All of the team wanted to win real bad but, you know, that’s the way it goes, you win some, you lose some.
“It’s an experience I’ll never forget, staying in the [Olympic Games style] village with the team and watching what all the other athletes do as well, just being around that atmosphere was amazing. Seeing how focused and dedicated all these athletes are was quite inspiring.”
As well as Thomas, Middle East interest in Ireland this week will centre around the Arab battle within the wider world battle between the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Khalid Al Jasmi, Ahmad Skaik and Saif Thabet will represent the UAE. Qatar’s team is Saleh Al Kaabi, Jaham Al Kuwan and Ali Al Shahrani while Saudi will send out Othman Almulla, Ali Hassan Alsakha and Khalid Waleed Attieh.
The biennial Eisenhower Trophy, named after the former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was first played on the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1958. Australia claimed the inaugural title two years before Team U.S. won the first of their record 15 titles at fabled Merion in Pennsylvania. Nicklaus was part of that 1960s team and still holds the individual scoring record.
Jon Rahm (2014), Rickie Fowler (2008), Ryan Moore (2004) and Hal Sutton (1980) are other high profile players to claim leading individual honours while Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange, Scott Hoch, Michael Campbell and Luke Donald have all played the Eisenhower.
USA have recorded eight runner-up finishes to go with their 15 wins. Australia and Great Britain & Ireland have the next best record with four wins although England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland now play individually.
Canada, Japan, Sweden, New Zealand, France, The Netherlands and Scotland are the only other teams to have hoisted the Eisenhower Trophy – all once each.
