By Kent Gray
All going well, Rayhan Thomas will skip the opening day at golf’s ultimate finishing school. We’re not sure playing hooky on your first day as a freshman is the best way to impress the academic faculty at Oklahoma State University but suspect Cowboys men’s golf team head coach Alan Bratton won’t mind a jot.

August 19 is the beginning of the next step in Thomas’ thus far thoroughly impressive ascent to the sharp end of the professional game, the start of a four-year immersion in a celebrated collegiate program that has produced professionals the calibre of Rickie Fowler. August 19 is also the final day of the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club. Reaching the 36-hole final in North Carolina is a long shot (Ed’s note: Thomas sadly opened with a 10-over-par 80) but be it fabled Pinehurst No.2 or famed OSU, Thomas can’t lose either way.

RELATED: Wu opens 119th U.S. Amateur with 65; Tough start for Thomas

A reconnaissance mission to Stillwater, Oklahoma earlier this year certainly has the MENA Tour trailblazer fizzing for his next chapter, one that already includes two professional titles and a runner-up finish in last year’s Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

“The trip when I went over to OSU was just fantastic,” the 19-year-old Dubai-based Indian recalls. “I spent two days there. The coach picked me up and took me straight to the golf club, checked that out. A fantastic facility, met the whole [golf club] team, I mean they’ve got some set-up there – no wonder they’ve been the best team in college golf for such a long time.”

The club of which Thomas speaks in such glowing terms is Karsten Creek. If the name is familiar, that’s because the Tom Fazio design was named after the late Karsten Solheim, founder of Karsten Manufacturing, or as it is more commonly known PING.

The brainchild of former OSU golf coach and current OSU Athletic Director Mike Holder, Karsten Creek opened in 1994 and has been home to the OSU golf program for the past 20 years. With its slick greens and a layout rated among the toughest in the United States, it’s a perfect place for Thomas to hone his game. So too is the program Bratton oversees; when OSU won it’s 11th NCAA Division 1 men’s title in 2018, Bratton became the first Cowboy to win collegiate golf’s top title as a player, assistant coach and then coach.

Karsten Creek G.C. has helped the OSU Cowboys become the country’s dominant NCAA Division 1 team

OSU was ousted in the semifinals by the Texas Longhorns in the most recent NCAA Div 1 Championship held in Arkansas in May. Thomas has been drafted in to help get the Cowboys back to where they belong (only the University of Houston with 16 has more NCAA golf titles) but making the five-man roster won’t be a cinch, even for a player ranked 14th in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking. Quality and Oklahoma State go hand in golf glove; aside from PGA Tour fan-favourite Fowler, OSU’s alumni include Charles Howell III, Bob and Kevin Tway, Peter Uihlein, Hunter Mayhan, Bo Van Pelt, Scott Verplank, Morgan Hoffmann, Alex Noren and 1998 Open Championship runner-up Brian Watts. More recently, Viktor Hovland won the 2018 U.S. Amateur and finished low amateur in this year’s U.S. Open while Matthew Wolff kicked on from winning the NCAA individual crown by clinching his first PGA Tour title at last month’s 3M Open. The win was historic with Wolff becoming just the third player after Ben Crenshaw and Tiger Woods to win the NCAA title and a PGA Tour title in the same year.

“The system in OSU is that you’ve got to qualify for the team. There are stable spots for the No.1 and No.2 players but initially I’m going to have to work my way onto that team, prove that I deserve that top 5 spots [first] and [then] prove I deserve one of those stable spots,” Thomas said. “There are so many good players it’s going to be a grind just to get onto the team.”

Luckily the MENA Tour has taught Thomas the art of the grind, not to mention a bit of artistry as well. A year after becoming the first amateur winner on tour at his home Dubai Creek Open in 2016, Thomas famously equalled the world record for successive birdies – all nine of them – en-route to a course record-tying 61 and a runner-up finish.

“The Mena Tour has been huge to getting me to this point,” he said. “It’s meant a lot to me and is the reason I am where I am today with the amount of ranking [AWGR points] and opportunities to play in some big European [Tour] tournaments. I can’t thank the MENA Tour enough for allowing me to be part of their journey and them being part of my journey.

“I can’t wait to see what the MENA has in store for us all in the next few years and I can’t wait to see what the golfing world has in store for me.”

Tournament Director Wayne Johnson was playing the mutual appreciation game as the MENA Tour prepared to bid Thomas a fond farewell.

“We are certainly very proud of Rayhan’s accomplishments and wish him the very best on his journey through the collegiate golf program and tournaments in the USA,” said Johnson.

“There is no substitute for hard work and I know Rayhan has worked extremely hard on his game with some expert tuition and guidance from the team at the Butch Harmon School of Golf [now Claude Harmon 3 Performance Golf Academy Dubai at The Els Club].

“I also believe the MENA Tour events Rayhan played in have helped form part of his successful growth and enhanced his performance by competing against more accomplished and experienced players on a regular basis.

“He has an immense passion for the game balanced with a wonderful temperament which will only stand to serve him well as he embarks on his new adventure to Oklahoma State University, one of the finest colleges in the USA with an unrivalled golf program which has helped nurture and develop some of the biggest  stars of the game.”

Here’s hoping Thomas becomes another of those famous Cowboy graduates – even if he does miss the first day of school.

The post Rayhan Thomas is about to take his golf education to the next level appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
There is little doubt who’ll have the biggest cheering section on Tuesday at Karsten Creek Golf Club. As expected, host Oklahoma State easily qualified for the matchplay portion of the NCAA Championship, posting the low 72-hole score (even-par 1,142) in stroke play, much to the satisfaction of the hometown fans in Stillwater.

There’s also no doubt who’ll have the most pressure on them as well. The Cowboys have won nine team titles during the 2017-’18 season, each increasing the anticipation for what might be as the team plays for the national championship on its home course. Given their familiarity with the Tom Fazio layout, as well as the talent on the squad—Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland are in the running for first-team All-American honors while Austin Eckroat, Kristoffer Ventura and Zach Bauchou have all also had standout seasons—anything less than a 11th NCAA team title potentially will feel like a letdown.

Still, OSU’s road to the title won’t be easy. As their “reward” for earning the No. 1 seed, the Cowboys face the second-ranked team in the country, Texas A&M, after the Aggies just snuck through to grab the eighth and final seed.

“We’ve played with them quite a few times,” said Oklahoma State men’s coach Alan Bratton. “Obviously, I’m familiar with the university. I’m from College Station. That will be a good match-up. They’ve had a good year, and we’ll need to be on our game, but I promise you we’ll be ready.”

Meanwhile, if Oklahoma State manages to advance to Tuesday afternoon’s semifinals, it could set up arguably the most anticipated head-to-head showdown since the NCAA Championship went to match play to decide the team title in 2009. The Cowboys could play in-state rival and defending NCAA champion Oklahoma. The Sooners earned the No. 4 seed in the match-play bracket and first face off with SEC champion Auburn in the semifinals.

In the other quarterfinal match-ups for Tuesday morning in Stillwater, No. 2 seed Duke plays No. 7 seed Texas and No. 3 seed Texas Tech plays No. 6 seed Alabama.

While playing a road game by being at Karsten Creek, Oklahoma men’s coach Ryan Hybl knows he’ll also have plenty of fans traveling from Norman and providing support. Hybl acknowledged, too, that there is a little bit of relief to have gotten to this stage of the championship, given expectations for his own squad to back-up their title from a year ago.

“I’ve gotten that question a lot this week about the pressure of defending. That was a year ago. …The pressure honestly is not on us. We’re not favored here this week, and we kind of like that.”

Here’s are the pairings for all the quarterfinal matches (all times are CDT):

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