By Kent Gray
Josh Hill has made golf look ridiculously easy at times in 2018 but proved yesterday he knows how to scrap too when the chips are down.

The 14-year-old came back from three down after seven holes in his first match at the British Boys Amateur Championship in Ireland to beat Scot Lewis Irvine 2 up.

RELATED: The unbelievable 2018 feats of Dubai’s new golf whiz kid

It sees the Jumeirah Golf Estates member and MENA Tour player in waiting through to the final 32 at Royal Dornoch. Hill faces Jose Luis Ballaster at 9.41am (12.41pm UAE time) and a second match on a busy Friday at the 2019 Open Championship venue if he can overcome the Spaniard. Ballaster edged Belgian James Meyer de Beco 3&1 in his opening match.

The performance comes after Hill finished a highly credible T-5 in the strokeplay phase of the Junior Amateur which is matched only by the U.S. Junior Am in terms of U-18 prestige globally.

Hill’s parents were following their son’s progress on the R&A website and it was clearly nailbiting stuff for father Russell.

“By all accounts it was a hell of a match from sunshine to rain to driving wind, having to play 3 woods on par 3s and apparently (which doesn’t happen very often) he utilised a fist pump,” Russell said

Well that was a hard day at the office with the live scoring rehashing every 90secs ??(apparently it was much harder on the course). I am feeding this of the wife’s reports and what I saw. After the first 3 holes Josh went one down, after the 6th he went two down, what I didn’t see (thank god) was after the seventh he went three down but thank god (for my sake) by the time the mini printer caught up on the ninth he was back to 2 down, by 12th 1 down, by 15 all square, 1 up after a? on 16, and won the 18th to win the match two up!by all accounts it was a hell of a match from sunshine to rain to driving wind, having to play 3 woods on par 3s and apparently (which doesn’t happen very often) he utilised a fist pump. But happy to get through and to add another experience to the growing list. This one sounded as though it took real balls!???????well done Josh good luck tomorrow! (I take no responsibility for the facts it could be fake reporting from the wife) I must say commiserations to Lewis Irvine it seemed to be one hell of a fight that could of swung either way! @jgegolf @bhsgdubai @faldoseries @jmarshallgolf

A post shared by Russell (@russellhill19) on Aug 16, 2018 at 12:05pm PDT

“But happy to get through and to add another experience to the growing list. This one sounded as though it took real balls. Well done Josh… good luck tomorrow [Friday]!”

Sentiments shared by many in UAE golfing community.

UPDATED: Hill’s encouraging summer campaign in the U.K. has come to an end after he was beaten 5&3 by Spaniard Jose Luis Ballaster in their round of 16 clash.

Here’s some more commentary from Hill’s father via Instagram.

Just talked to Josh about the day at the British Boys His summary was this “I played ok but not my best he just played unreal, especially if one considers the conditions” guess one can’t legislate for that and match play can be brutal with those dynamics. Still overall a great summer for the experience bank. Vid from earlier in the summer.

A post shared by Russell (@russellhill19) on Aug 17, 2018 at 12:07pm PDT

The post UPDATED: Hill’s British Boys Amateur run comes to an end appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Josh Hill left last week’s Boys Home Internationals with a thoroughly impressive three from four record on debut, a sizeable share of the glory of a title three peat as a result – and absolutely no idea of when he might play for England again.

The 14-year-old knows all he can do is to keep posting numbers and his name up in lights. So far so good.

The Jumeirah Golf Estates star-in-waiting is through to the matchplay phase of the British Boys Amateur Championship and in some style too, finish T-5 after 36-holes of strokeplay qualifying on two or Ireland’s toughest links layouts.

After an even par 72 on Portstewart on Tuesday, Hill posted a memorable 70 on Royal Portrush yesterday. The one-under loop of next year’s Open Championship venue saw the Dubai—born team leap five places up the leaderboard and finish just two shots behind qualifying medalists Robin Williams (Eng) and Mark O]Power (Ire).

Hill faces Lewis Irvine in their round of 32 match at Portrush from 12.55pm (3.55pm UAE time) today after the Scot fromKirkhill G.C. finished in a share of 50th place following rounds of 75-74.

The JGE player knows he just has to keep trending.

“I’m not playing anything else [international] this year as I’m not in the team so hopefilly I can impress them to get in the team next year,” Hill told Golf Digest Middle East.

Hill’s JGE club-mate and fellow Butch Harmon School of Golf Dubai trainee Arjun Gupta missed the top-64 cut after rounds of 78-76 to finish +11 in T-122.

Josh has put in a good performance today. He said it was solid and very happy with the way he performed in the driving wind and rain and on a super tough track. This has taken him into stage two, the match play. Good luck Josh, it’s all bonus’s and lessons from here on in! @bhsgdubai @jgegolf @faldoseries @jmarshallgolf @alipargolffitness

A post shared by Russell (@russellhill19) on Aug 15, 2018 at 11:49am PDT

The post Josh Hill, unsure about his England future, is doing everything to stay in the frame appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.