By Joel Beall
There are a number of players missing from this Open Championship, but—with all respect to those not making the trip to Sandwich—most of the game’s marquee names remain in the field at Royal St. George’s, and a pack of them will be paired together during the Open’s first and second rounds.

Before you ask, no, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are not in the same group. As discussed at Torrey Pines; this is for the best; better to let that rivalry manifest over the weekend when it matters most rather than during the fleeting nature of a Thursday or Friday. So as we wait and pray for that heavyweight battle to come to fruition, here are 11 pairings to keep us entertained during the first two rounds of the Open Championship.

7:41 am local Thursday/2:41 am EDT — Viktor Hovland, Ryan Palmer, Thomas Detry

Hovland is making his Open debut, and historically this is a tournament that favors—and arguably requires—experience. Conversely, what has made Hovland so good so early in his career is a blissful disregard to his surroundings, beholden to an inner command known only to him. Better yet, compared to the other majors, lights-out putting is not a prerequisite for contention, pacifying one of Hovland’s few weak spots. Throw in Palmer’s continued late-career revival and a red-hot Detry (two T-2s in past four starts) don’t be surprised if these names are on the early board.

8:03 am/3:03 am — Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Garrick Higgo

There’s a “weapons of mass destruction” joke in here, but these three are more than muscle. Kokrak is fighting like hell for a U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s pick and a top-five finish would move him from the “charming story that, realistically, doesn’t have a shot” category to “about to burst some star’s bubble” list of contenders. … Higgo is in a bit of a slump with three missed cuts in his last four starts; he’s also won three times since late April so maybe we should keep an eye on him, yes? … As for the third player, let’s save our words for later in the week. Because this is a major and this is Brooks Koepka, so you better believe we’ll be talking about him in greater capacity come Saturday.

9:25 am/4:25 am — Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Branden Grace

Aspiring gamblers could find a worse dark horse than Grace, who is back from the wilderness with a win earlier this year along with a fourth-place finish at the Memorial and T-7 at the U.S. Open. … Augusta National is his playground but the Open has been just as kind to Spieth, and Royal St. George’s profile and past point to that providence continuing this week. The only thing keeping him from contending come Saturday will be finding himself in the wrong weather wave. … As for Bryson, this week ends with DeChambeau winning by three, forcing the R&A to convene an emergency session to declare persimmon and balata will be mandated at next year’s Open at St. Andrews OR Bryson becomes so flummoxed by the wind and ground game that he walks off the course and into the sea. There is no in-between.

9:58 am/4:58 am — Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen

No matter what happens on the score card, this will be a long-overdue victory lap for Lowry. … Rahm will be treated with just as much love coming off his U.S. Open conquest. And amidst that parade Louis will very quietly put together two solid rounds to find himself near the lead because apparently that’s a bylaw for majors now.

David Cannon/R&A

10:20 am/5:20 am — Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose

With two months to go before Ryder Cup rosters are finalized, Rose is shockingly on the outside looking in. He also has top-10s at the Masters and PGA, and a third this week can justify a captain’s pick against a blah record the rest of the year. … Speaking of Zalatoris, despite his strong season he’s trending to be snubbed for Whistling Straits. Yet if he contends at Royal St George’s, that would be four top-10s—highlighted by the Masters runner-up—in his past five major starts. And that is a hard, hard line to bypass. … Sticking with the theme, Johnson has his Ryder Cup spot locked up. He also hasn’t finished better than T-10 since February, which by DJ standards is a drought. Royal St. George’s is the site of one of Johnson’s major misses; can his putter wake up from its slumber (71st in putting this season) to give the 37-year-old his long-awaited payback?

1:04 pm/8:04 am — Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fox

Cantlay has finished no better than T-15 in his last eight major starts. Fitzpatrick hasn’t logged a major top-10 finish in his last 21 outings. Both are too talented for these streaks to continue.

1:26 pm/8:26 am — Collin Morikawa, Corey Conners, Sebastian Munoz

Morikawa leads the tour in SG/approach by a mile. Conners ranks top 10 in the category (eighth). Munoz is a fine player coming off a strong performance (T-4 at the John Deere Classic) but legitimately worried the poor guy is going to quit after watching Morikawa and Conners pepper flagsticks for two days.

2:48 pm/9:48 am — Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner

In one sense it’s unfair to Mickelson to view what happened at Kiawah as proof the man can still get it done, rather than recognize what he did defied all we thought we knew about age and sport. In other words, to treat that moment for just that, a moment, instead of extrapolating what is next for Phil. HOWEVER, experience matters at the Open. Creativity matters. Understanding bad breaks are inevitable and possessing the fortitude it takes to bounce back from them really, really matters. In short there’s a decent chance the magic from Kiawah comes alive again in Kent, where Mickelson finished T-2 the last time the claret jug visited Royal St. George’s … As for Hatton and Kisner, our only wish is that Kisner pays tribute to Hatton with his own disgusted club toss at some point. Game recognise game, after all.

GLYN KIRK

2:59 pm/9:59 am — Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler

With Rahm capturing the U.S. Open Schauffele is now the best under-40 player to not have a major. That he’s ditching his ill-fated arm-lock experiment should help the cause … Fowler has shown signs of life over the past six weeks, and did contend at the 2011 Open (T-5). Fowler’s success in the wind is a bit overstated but it’s also not wrong, which is why this week could be the turning point so many hope comes … The Euro cognoscenti desperately wants MacIntyre to be the next big thing. He’s not far away from such status, proving his mettle at the 2019 Open (T-6) and playing well at a number of venues this year. His game is not necessary pretty, yet it’s at its best when things get ugly, the type of game that so often decides who grabs the claret jug.

3:10 pm/10:10 am — Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott

I know the golf gods are not just but it seems criminal these three men have a combined two majors.

3:21 pm/10:21 am — Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith

Rory McIlroy is an Open champ. He is the fulcrum of the European Ryder Cup team. He is everything a fan could want in a player avatar. So we have no idea what McIlroy did or who he betrayed to get thrown into the crossfire of Reed and Smith, two players who have an interesting past. (Smith called out Reed for his penalty for moving sand at the Hero World Challenge in 2019, then the two exchanged words shortly after at the Presidents Cup.) But if McIlroy traverses this minefield without incident, no one is stopping him from snapping his seven-year major slump.

The post DeChambeau-Spieth, a trio of bombers and a bad-blood pairing highlight our 11 favourite groups at Royal St. George’s appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
RIDGELAND, S.C. — Move over, Collin. You too, Viktor. Wolffie, Zalatoris, y’all need to clear some space. For we have yet another star of barely legal drinking age on the PGA Tour.

Garrick Higgo, a 22-year-old lefty from South Africa with a toothy smile and a killer instinct, won the Palmetto Championship on Sunday, albeit, it must be said, with some serious assistance from Chesson Hadley.

But details like Hadley’s six final-round bogeys, including each of the last three holes, will fade from memory. The enduring image from ruggedly beautiful Congaree Golf Club will be that of Higgo, erasing a six-shot deficit to win just his second career start on the PGA Tour. He’s the youngest South African to win on tour since Gary Player—who’s been a frequent sounding board for his countryman.

“I’ve spoken to him quite a lot actually,” Higgo said. “I spoke to him the whole week throughout Kiawah. He phoned me after every round. We spoke about the round, about all sorts of things about my swing, whatever, all that stuff. Then he phoned me this morning, actually, and he told me he’s done it before quite a few times, the way he’s won from six behind, seven behind. He just said don’t think too much about what the other guys are doing, just kind of do your thing and stay up there, and you never know what could happen.”

Despite Player’s plea, coming back from six down doesn’t happen often—it’s the largest comeback on the PGA Tour this season. But this is anything but a fluke. Those fond of waking up to watch European Tour action have known of Higgo for some time. He’s already a three-time winner on the Old World Circuit and won two of his last four starts across the pond, both on the Canary Islands, by a combined nine shots, which pushed him all the way inside the top 60 in the World Ranking. That got him into the PGA Championship, where he made the cut on the number then flashed his all-world potential in the final round, birdieing seven of his first 11 holes and looking remarkably calm while doing so. He hung around the low country after Kiawah, setting up a temporary base in Sea Island, Ga., a two hour straight-shot down I-95 from Congaree.

This, then, would be a pretty comfortable week. The area surrounding Congaree is not exactly a bustling metropolis; the fan turnout all week was what you’d expect at a Korn Ferry Tour event. Most of the top-ranked players opted to skip this event, it falling between Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament and that little gathering at Torrey Pines. The venue itself also played into his hands; it’s aesthetically similar to Frederica Golf Club, where Higgo has been practicing, and it’s the first time Congaree has hosted a tour event, which levels the playing field. And the last of those two wins was only a month ago. Still, he poured cold water on the idea that he was on some sort of heater coming into the week.

“I think I am bowling from scratch,” he said Wednesday. “I’m not going to say that I don’t have any momentum going into any week after that stretch, but I kind of just want to try to do the same things and see if that will work over here. I’m pretty sure it will, but obviously, the strength of fields are going to be a lot stronger. It’s going to be a much bigger challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Back-to-back 68s put him on the edge of contention and booked a Saturday afternoon tee time with fellow South African Wilco Nienaber, a 21-year-old who might be longer than Bryson DeChambeau. He couldn’t have asked for a better pairing—the two have known each other since they were 10 years old and jockeyed for the No. 1 ranking in South African junior golf just a few years ago.

“It made it a lot easier,” Higgo said after a gritty 68 that left him six back heading into Sunday. “We could speak a bit of Afrikaans in between shots. My caddie was the only one that didn’t know what we were talking about, so that was great. Yeah.”

He busted out the blocks quickly on Sunday, birdieing Nos. 3 and 4 to get to 10 under but gave them back with bogeys on No. 6 and No. 9. It wasn’t until an eagle on the par-5 12th—364-yard drive, 183-yard approach to nine feet, a bucket from there—that he began to think I might be able to actually win this thing.

“I didn’t have to scoreboard watch—I knew already I was kind of up there or close enough. It was just whether Chesson was going to run away with it.”

Mike Ehrmann
Garrick Higgo reacts after saving par on the 17th hole during the final round at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.

He did nothing of the sort. Simply put, Hadley had no idea where the ball was going when it mattered most. He’d hook one and then he’d over-compensate with a block-fade. The 33-year-old, who was chasing his first PGA Tour win in more than seven years, stopped short of using the c-word to describe his brutal ball-striking day—he lost 4.6 shots with his approach play—but you’d do well to find a more fitting descriptor.

Hadley fanned a drive well right on 16, only to inquire about, and be denied, relief from an ant hill. Punch out, bogey. On 17, he pull-hooked an approach from the fairway and sent a relatively standard bunker shot racing through the green. Bogey, and a good one at that. At 18, from 163 yards in the fairway and needing a par for a playoff, he missed his target with an 8-iron by a good 20 yards. He gave himself a nine-footer for par that might as well have been 90 feet, and it limped by on the low side.

“It sucks, right?” he said. “I can only imagine what it looked like on TV because it looked freakin’ awful from my view. I mean, I could barely keep it on the planet. That 8-iron from the fairway on that last hole is inexcusable.”

Higgo played his last six holes in one under par—nothing spectacular, but precisely what he needed on an afternoon when no one seemed particularly keen to close the deal. Bo Van Pelt, who nearly quit the game in 2018 and didn’t have a top-10 on tour since 2015, bogeyed 16 and 18 to finish one back. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson briefly reached 11 under before a triple bogey at 16 promptly shifted his focus to Torrey. Harris English shared the lead early but shot 40 on his back nine. All these veterans, and the only guy who played mistake-free coming in was the youngin’.

Higgo now moves inside the top 40 of the World Ranking after being 728th on June 1, 2019, and will ride a wave of confidence all the way to California. He gets full PGA Tour status, a spot in the Masters, all that jazz. And yet, in every star player’s career, there comes a point where he progresses past the “Getting into this tournament” stage and enters “He can win anywhere” territory.

“I’ve just gone to another level now. So I’ll just see what my game can do. I enjoy playing and seeing what my game does and where it takes me. I’m going to continue with that.”

Those paying attention knew it was a matter of time until Higgo made that leap. It just happened a little sooner than expected.

The post Garrick Higgo wins the Palmetto Championship with a little luck and a whole lot of talent appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Thursday and Friday of the Palmetto Championship belonged to Wilco Nienaber, the 21-year-old South African bomber who makes Bryson DeChambeau’s prodigious drives look, well, pedestrian. Sunday, however, belonged to Nienaber’s fellow countryman, Garrick Higgo, who stole a victory with a closing 68 at Congaree.

Both of these South African young guns are bound to be superstars, but it’s Higgo, 22, who has now won a wildly impressive four times since September. Three of those wins came on the European Tour with the fourth at Palmetto, where he was making just the second career PGA Tour start after playing last month at the PGA Championship. Prior to Sunday, no player had won in their first or second PGA Tour start since Jim Benepe at the 1988 Western Open. This also marked Higgo’s third victory in his last five worldwide starts, which seems good.

But wait, there’s more. Per stats guru Justin Ray, Higgo’s triumph makes him the first South African 22 or young to win on the PGA Tour since Gary Player, who wound up having a solid career. So yeah, the star power potential is certainly there for this kid.

“I just stayed patient all week,” said Higgo, who hit an astounding 75 percent of his greens for the week, but credited another area of his game for the win. “I’ve worked so hard with my coach Cliff [Barnard] on my short game and my putting, and all the guys at Titleist. And I guess all that has paid off.”

It was already paying off on the European Tour, where Higgo won the Open de Portugal in September, the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open in April and the Canary Islands Open in May. Those wins quickly made him a household name among hardcore golf followers, but he was an unknown to the casual golf fan up until Sunday. That will now change quickly, as will Higgo’s life. He’s immediately eligible for membership on the PGA Tour through the 2022-2023 season, and he’s also eligible for the 2021 FedEx Cup Playoffs. Next week, he’ll play in his first U.S. Open, where more than a few sets of eyeballs will be on him thanks to this win, and he’s into the 2022 Masters.

When asked if he realises how much his life is about to change with the victory, Higgo, who lost his father in a car accident when he was 9 years old, could only smile and think about his family.

“I’m gonna take all the good things from this,” he said. “Can’t wait to see my family, hopefully they can come over. Very lucky that my mom is here. But yeah, I just love my family.”

Loves mom. Loves winning. Just like that, another South African star is born.

Chesson Hadley’s painful-to-watch finish

Mike Ehrmann

No one should take anything away from Higgo, who put himself in position to have a chance to win, which is all you can ask for on a given week on tour. He should not apologise for winning especially when you start the final round six shots off the lead. But my goodness, did he get a LOT of help from Chesson Hadley.

Hadley, who was playing on the weekend for just the third time in the last seven months (!), actually overcame a brutal start on Sunday. Leading by four to begin the round, he went bogey-bogey at Nos. 2 and 3, but was able to regain control of the tournament by playing the next 12 holes in one under par. At 16, however, his meltdown commenced, a painful-to-watch bogey-bogey-bogey finish that didn’t even earn him a spot in a playoff. Par-par-bogey, or par-bogey-par, or bogey-par-par or some other ridiculous combination of one over on the final three holes, meanwhile, would have earned him his second career tour win, the last coming seven years ago at the 2014 Puerto Rico Open. It would have come in his 190th start. Instead, a guy making his second was the beneficiary of Hadley’s car crash of a finish.

“It sucks, right?” said Hadley, adding, “I can only imagine what it looked like on TV because it looked freakin’ awful from my view. I mean, I could barely keep it on the planet. That 8-iron from the fairway on that last hole is inexcusable.”

After getting somewhat lucky with his tee shot, which stayed in the fairway after looking like it was hooking left into the gallery, Hadley had a straightforward 8-iron into the 72nd green. He blocked it badly to the right and was unable to get up and down to force a playoff.

“I just didn’t have it today. It was bad and got to do better, and I will. Just got to keep after it.”

For those keeping score at home, in the last seven days a guy leading by six shots after 54 holes, a woman leading by five at one point on Sunday, and a guy who began the day with a four-shot lead through 54 holes all did not win their respective tournaments. Winning is hard.

Imagine trying to predict the outcome of golf tournaments?

Mike Ehrmann

The only thing harder than actually winning a tournament? Trying to predict who is going to win it. Sure, a few folks in the gambling community were high on Higgo this week, understandable given how red hot he has been. But it took multiple miracles for that to happen, and I can promise you not a single person on the planet had Bo Van Pelt and Chesson Hadley pegged as two of the other contenders along with Higgo.

Van Pelt, who missed 3½ years with an injury, had made 38 starts on the PGA Tour since September 2019, when he officially returned to action. During that span, the 46-year-old made a total of 10 cuts, never posted a top-10 finish and had just one result better than T-30, a T-15 at the 2021 Puerto Rico Open. Despite making a bad bogey at the last on Sunday, he still secured his first PGA Tour top-10 since the 2015 Travelers Championship.

As for Hadley, he had missed 10 of his last 12 cuts, failing to shoot consecutive rounds in the 60s during that span. At one point on Sunday, viewers appeared destined for a playoff between two guys who have been flat-out awful as of late. And next week, we will all continue to attempt to predict what is going to happen in this ridiculous sport. Dopes.

Dustin Johnson appears to be U.S. Open-ready

Mike Ehrmann

If not for a woeful triple bogey on the 16th hole Sunday, Dustin Johnson and Garrick Higgo might still be in a sudden-death playoff as we speak. Almost makes you wonder if DJ said eff it, I’m ready to get to Torrey and I don’t want to deal with all the post-victory nonsense. OK, that’s definitely not what happened, but would you put it past him?

Tinfoil-hat conspiracies aside, this man appears more than ready to challenge for a second U.S. Open next week, a welcome sign considering he hadn’t seriously contended since Riviera in February. We’re overdue for another Brooks-DJ major showdown, no?

The post Another South African talent makes quick impression, Chesson Hadley’s painful finish and DJ looks U.S. Open ready appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
The European Tour has spent the last three weeks on Spain’s picturesque Canary Islands. So has Garrick Higgo, who it is safe to say has been enjoying the views, both on and off the course. A remarkable 68-under par for the 12 rounds played, the 21-year-old South African picked up two victories, at the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open and on Sunday, the Canary Islands Championship.

A final round of seven-under-par 64, which included a hole-in-one, over the Golf Costa Adeje course—where last week the former UNLV stand-out finished T-8 in the Tenerife Open—took Higgo to 27 under and gave him a comfortable six-shot edge over the runner-up, Australian Maverick Antcliff. Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland was third on 20 under, one shot ahead of a five-strong group that included last week’s winner, Dean Burmester.

This one was all about Higgo, though. A semifinalist in the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur (where he lost 3 and 1 to eventual runner-up, Matthew Wolff), the young left-hander is on the rise on multiple fronts. This third victory in only 27 European Tour starts sees him up to fifth on the Race to Dubai and just outside the top-50 on the World Ranking. Which is not to say Higgo is satisfied with what he has already achieved. Other targets remain, not least a place on fellow South African Trevor Immelman’s International squad at next year’s Presidents Cup.

“It would be awesome to play under Trevor,” said Higgo. “He was my captain in the Junior Presidents Cup. If I make that team, it would be unreal. I think I can do it, though. This is a hard game, but I just need to keep playing well.”

He has certainly been doing that recently, after what was a poor start to the year in the Middle East, where he missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. All of which already seems like a long time ago in the midst of such a strong run of form, one that saw Higgo flirt with Ernie Els’ all-time 72-hole scoring record of 29 under on the European Tour.

“I’m very tired and very thankful to be done,” said Higgo, who made seven birdies and an ace at No. 7 in a closing round that saw him forge ahead before the turn and stroll to a victory worth €230,500 ($280,362). “But also a little bit upset. My goal was to get to 30-under par so making a bogey on the 16th and three-putting the last hole for par was a little disappointing. I watch scoreboards all the time, so I knew where I was. But I didn’t know until afterwards that I was so close to Ernie’s record. I’m very happy though. Leading is never easy and I was feeling pressure right from the start. Two weeks ago was the first time I had led going into a final round.

“Having said that, I played so well today and hit the ball nicely. This win was actually a lot easier than the last one because I was hitting it so much better. I can’t believe it has happened so soon. But, then again, my game has been so good I can believe it as well. The hole-in-one was a perfect 9-iron. But I was on a roll at that point. I made birdies immediately before and after.”

Speaking of which, this was the third successive victory by a South African on the Old World circuit, a feat repeated on the second-division Challenge Tour when Wilco Nienaber lifted the Dimension Data Pro-am title at Sun City. And Higgo has been grateful for the presence of so many of his older compatriots, particularly in these unusual COVID-driven times.

“They’ve been great to me,” he continued. “They’ve taken me under their wing, and I’ve learned a lot from them.”

Clearly, South Africans make good teachers.

The post Garrick Higgo makes an ace in winning second European Tour event in short order appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
It took Garrick Higgo only seven starts to register his maiden win on the European Tour, last year’s Open de Portugal. And 17 starts later, the 21-year-old lefty from South African has doubled his tally. Posting back-to-back 63 over the par-70 Meloneras resort course in Spain’s Gran Canaria on the weekend, Higgo got himself to 25 under par for the week and claimed victory at the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open. Higgo finished three better than Germany’s Maximillian Kieffer, runner-up in Austria last week, who shot a final-round 62 that was the best of a low-scoring day that saw only 10 of the 74-strong field fail to shoot par or better.

Still, it was Higgo’s display that stood out. Arriving on the back of a T-4 finish in Austria last week, only three times did the former Junior Presidents Cup player make worse than par during a breezy 72 holes over the picturesque 6,715-yard course. That is impressive enough, but perhaps more importantly, Higgo made 25 birdies and two eagles. Combined with his paucity of errors, those were numbers that no one could match. Not even Kieffer, whose cards were highlighted by 28 birdies and one eagle, but scarred by as many six dropped shots and one double bogey.

“I wasn’t nervous on the outside,” said Higgo, who started the final round with a two-shot edge over three others for the €230,500 first prize. “But it was the first time ever that I have had a lead. All my other wins have been from behind, so I know what it is like to beat someone and how things can change. At first, I was just trying to keep myself in the battle.”

Higgo putts on the 12th hole during the final round of the Gran Canaria Open at Meloneras Golf Club on April 25, 2021, in Maspalomas, Spain. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

That he did with some success. Bogey-free all day, Higgo’s up-and-down for par at the penultimate hole all but sealed the win. The closing birdie he made on the downwind 528-yard par-5 18th was a formality and only confirmed his superiority.

“There is always room for improvement,” said Higgo, who will move into the top 100 on the World Ranking for the first time, likely earning him a spot into his first major championship at next month’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. “But my game is trending the right way. I have been working hard and there are things I can get better at, so I will just take every week as it comes and see where my game goes. I haven’t been playing that well at the start of the year, so this is amazing.”

As for Kieffer, the 30-year-old was philosophical about his second consecutive runner-up finish. In truth, he was never nearer than two shots to the eventual champion, so there was no real reason for any regret.

“I was just trying to go shot for shot,” said Kieffer, who made seven birdies and an eagle en route to his best-of-the-day score. “Even though it is windy you have to have that mindset. I learned that last week. You just have to make as many birdies as possible. And I was just trying to do that. I did a decent job today.”

Decent. But second best. Again.

The post Garrick Higgo is a 21-year-old you should be watching after a second Euro Tour victory in 24 career starts appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Rayhan Thomas has U.S. left-hander Akshay Bhatia in his crosshairs as he looks to cap the first half of the most “awesome”  week of his young golf career in style.

The MENA Tour trailblazer will meet the 15-year-old North Carolina star at 8:40am local time (3:40pm UAE time) as the International team look to overcome a 9-3 deficit, and huge odds, to win the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup in New Jersey.

Bhatia, 8th on the American Junior Golf Association rankings, and will take some beating. David Toms’ captain’s pick for the U.S., Bhatia won both his fourball and foursomes matches on Monday at Plainfield Country Club and brought three 2017 wins with him to Edison, including victory in the Junior PGA Championship.

But if Thomas can replicate some of the shot making he displayed on the opening day, the Wake Forest lefty is in for a ding-dong battle.

The 17-year-old Dubai-born Indian No.1 holed a clutch putt on the 18th hole to fight back from 3 down to earn a half against Noah Goodwin and fellow Texan Cole Hammer in the first morning fourball match out. The WAGR No.31 again teamed with South African Garrick Higgo for the afternoon foursomes and while the International pair were well beaten 4&3 by Goodwin and South Carolina’s Trent Phillips, Thomas still battled gamely with shots like this birdie putt on Plainfield’s 7th hole:

@RayhanThomas is on ? with the flatstick at the #JrPresidentsCup. Another clutch bird at 7 cuts the deficit to 1down in pm foursomes pic.twitter.com/ntdVu4svpP

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

There were also a couple of delightful chips:

The kid has serious game. @RayhanThomas bringing his @theMENATour upbringing to the fore at #JrPresidentsCup. You got 2B proud@JParsonsGolf pic.twitter.com/v82M6JkypX

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

@RayhanThomas burns hole with another classy chip but US eagle to go 3up #JrPresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/qAVIxzVQUW

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

Typically, Thomas doesn’t know when he is beaten and insists the U.S. haven’t got got their hands on the trophy just yet.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow’s round playing Akshay Bhatia. He’s a great player so I can’t wait to start and get things going and hopefully coming back from this large deficit and trying to win this thing,” Thomas told Golf Digest Middle East.

”We are all capable of winning our matches and I think if we put our hearts and souls into it, I think we can definitely pull it off. Overall I just want to have some fun. I’ve learned a lot this week and it’s not even the end of the week for me at least cause I stay on till October 1st for the [senior] Presidents Cup [starting at nearby Liberty National on Thursday].”

Thomas described Monday’s matches in tandem with Higgo as “super fun” and an “awesome experience”.

Related: Watch Rayhan Thomas make a clutch birdie to earn historic half at Jnr Presidents Cup

“To get that half in the first match was awesome, I mean we were down early, three down after 11,  but we got that half point which was huge against probably the top pair from the U.S. team.

“In the afternoon we sort of put ourselves in a bit of a hole early on which cost us. It took a lot out of us trying to get out of that hole which we could have done easily on the stretch from 10 to 13. We had a lot of good chances but…”

You suspect Thomas won’t leave any but’s or what if’s out there Tuesday against Bhatia.

The post Thomas to face U.S. lefty in Jnr Presidents Cup singles match after “awesome” opening day appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Rayhan Thomas has produced a clutch birdie on the final hole at Plainfield Country Club to secure a crucial half point for Trevor Immelman’s International team on the opening morning of the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup in New Jersey.

The Dubai star teamed with South African Garrick Higgo to fight back from three down with seven to play to halve with U.S. No.1 Noah Goodwin and fellow Texan Cole Hammer in the first fourball match out.

Here’s the nerveless birdie putt Thomas holed to ensure an unbeaten start to the biggest event of his young golfing career:

@Rayhan Thomas makes a clutch bird on 18 as Int. team come back from 2 down to earn half point in first #JrPresidentsCup fourball match. ? pic.twitter.com/SXDkdAlo2J

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

After both teams produced four-under 68s on the picturesque 7110 yard course in Edison, NJ, Thomas faced a local TV reporter. The 17-year-old Dubai-born, Indian No.1 handled the occasion with trademark calm:

Remember the name! @theMENATour trailblazer @RayhanThomas doing the #UAE and #India proud! pic.twitter.com/suILWQmphA

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

“Yeah it’s pretty awesome. It would have been nice had we got a point but half a point is good enough and hopefully we can do well this afternoon,” said the correspondence schooled Dubai Creek member, ranked 31st in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).

The Mena Tour trailblazer played a pivotal role in the comeback, a birdie on the 588 yard 12th getting the International team back to two down before both he and Higgo birdied the 14th for another gain. Higgo then got the match back to all square with another birdie on 17 before Immelman’s lead-out men held their nerve down the last.

What a moment for @RayhanThomas leading @TrevorImmelman's Int team out in the 1st Jnr @PresidentsCup. Fourball v US #1 @NoahGoodwinGolf pic.twitter.com/MEb2IRwPBx

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

The half point shapes as crucial with David Toms’ U.S. taking a 5-1 lead into Monday afternoon’s foursomes. Thomas and his International team-mates will certainly need a big afternoon and a dominant performance in Tuesday’s 12 singles matches if they are to topple the hosts.

Immelman again paired Thomas and Higgo for the foursomes against Goodwin and South Carolina’s Trent Phillips.

The post Watch Rayhan Thomas make a clutch birdie to earn historic half at Jnr Presidents Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.