By Ryan Herrington
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.—You’ll have to forgive the amateurs who’ll be competing at Pebble Beach if they’re feeling a little déjà vu this week. While only two have played in a U.S. Open previously (mid-amateurs Stewart Hagestad and Matt Parziale), all but one of the 15 who’ll tee it up with a little “a” next to their name on Thursday have played the historic links on the Monterey Peninsula under championship conditions.

And they did it only 10 months ago.

Pebble Beach is the rare course that is hosting a U.S. Open the summer immediately after holding the U.S. Amateur (the last time that happened was in 1999-2000, coincidentally also at Pebble Beach). Except for recent Wake Forest grad Cameron Young, every amateur in this week’s U.S. Open field will enjoy the benefit of that oddity, having played here just last August.

How big a deal is that really? Well, while the rough is thicker and pinched in more than at the Amateur, the firm fairways are much like what they encountered then and the greens might actually be a little softer, at least so far early this week. In other words, those who played last August have a pretty good idea for what lies ahead.

“Obviously the atmosphere and the tournament is different,” said Viktor Hovland, who was the last man standing at the U.S. Amateur, defeating Devon Bling, 6 and 5. “But it’s still the same course and you still have somewhat of the same lines off of the tees. The greens still break the same ways.”

That’s good news for much of this group when you consider six of the 14 from the U.S. Amateur advanced to match play. That suggests that many of the field found at least some success on Pebble’s idyllic but sometimes confounding course, a confidence booster for sure.

This is the seventh straight year at least 10 amateurs are competing in the U.S. Open and the 12th time in 13 years. Meanwhile, an amateur has made the cut in the Open every year since 2007. Given the calibre of this year’s group, there’s no reason to believe that streak comes to an end this week. The real question is how many will be playing all four rounds.

Here is our breakdown of the players and their chances of making it to the weekend and vying for low-amateur honours. To manage the large group, we’ve got them in categories of confidence, 5 being my best bets to make the cut, down to 1 being the least likely (players ranked in order of even more confidence inside the confidence categories.)

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Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy talk during a practice round prior to the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Confidence Level 5
Viktor Hovland, 21, Norway
Stewart Hagestad, 28, Newport Beach, Calif.
Jovan Rebula, 21, South Africa

Hovland obviously has good memories from Pebble after winning the Havemeyer Trophy last August. He turns pro next week, making his debut at the Travelers Championship. That transition can be tricky at times, and might mean he’s not fully concentrating on his game given potential outside distractions. But Hovland, who finished T-32 at Augusta in April, has the chance to become the first player to win low-amateur honours in both the Masters and U.S. Open in a single year since Matt Kuchar in 1998. It’s an extra bit of incentive that might be the difference maker. “I’m thinking about the U.S. Open right now,” Hovland insists, “and when I get to Connecticut next week, I’ll be, OK, am I even in the U.S., and then we’ll figure that stuff out.” … Hagestad has an incentive, too. This is his third straight Open appearance, the first amateur to get in three years in a row since the 1980s. But he has yet to make a cut in his two previous attempts after famously ending a nearly 30-year streak of U.S. Mid-Amateur champs missing the cut at the Masters in 2017. … Rebula, the reigning British Amateur champion, also has major-championship experience, having played in last summer’s Open Championship at Carnoustie and the Masters in April, but missing the cut in both. Even so, Ernie Els’ nephew, who also won the SEC individual champion at Auburn in April, has the game get to the weekend.

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Confidence Level 4
Cameron Young, 22, Scarsborough, N.Y
Matt Parziale, 32, Brockton, Mass.
Chun-An (Kevin) Yu, 20, Taiwan

The most well-known name of this bunch is Parziale, who won the 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur and took a leave of absence as a firefighter in Massachusetts to enjoy the spoils of victory. He played in the 2018 Masters and then shared low-amateur honours at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. After his dream summer ended—which including getting married before playing the U.S. Amateur at Pebble—so did his days as a firefighter as Parizale returned home to start a new career in the insurance business. It would appear the new job has given him time to sneak in a little more golf—he reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in May before advancing through U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying. … Those who live in the New York Metropolitan area have likely heard of Young, who won the New York State Open as an amateur in 2017, while also claiming three college titles as a senior this past season at Wake. Young’s father, David, is the head professional at Sleepy Hollow Country Club. … The most talented of this threesome, however, might be Yu, who just earned first-team All-American honours at Arizona State after finishing third at the NCAA Championship.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Matt Parziale celebrates winning a share of low-amateur honours at the 2018 U.S. Open.

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Confidence Level 3
Devon Bling, 19, Ridgecrest, Calif.
Austin Eckroat, 20, Edmond, Okla.
Daniel Hillier, 20, New Zealand
Kevin O’Connell, 30, Jacksonville, Fla.

Bling, a rising junior at UCLA, made the cut in the Masters, finishing 55th. That and memories of his run to the finals at the U.S. Amateur at Pebble last August have to make him optimistic about his chances this week. … Eckroat, who just finished his sophomore year at Oklahoma State, is playing in his first pro tournament. He might not get the headlines that teammate Hovland or NCAA player of the year Matthew Wolff, but he did have a win and six top-10 finishes in college this past season. … If you’re looking for a sneaky pick among the amateurs, Hillier might be your man. He birdied four of his final six holes during sectional qualifying in England to earn his way to Pebble. And at the U.S. Amateur last year, shared medalist honours. … O’Connell is the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who has a chance at playing on the U.S. Walker Cup team this September with a good showing this week.

Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images
Daniel Hillier looks on during day one of the 2019 New Zealand Open.

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Confidence Level 2
Chandler Eaton, 21, Alpharetta, Ga.
Michael Thorbjornsen, 17, Wellesley, Mass.
Brandon Wu, 22, Danville, Calif.

Eaton will be a senior at Duke in the fall and was an All-ACC selection this past season after having six top-10 finishes along with a T-15 at NCAAs. Both of his parents played college golf. Our only reservation here is that this is his first start in a pro event, so nerves might come into play. … Same for Thorbjornsen, won the U.S. Junior title at Baltusrol last summer when he defeated good friend and junior phenom Akshay Bhatia in the final. He’ll be a senior in high school this fall and has made a verbal commitment to play at Stanford in college. … Given this, he might want to connect with Wu, who just wrapped up his college career with the Cardinal last month by helping the team claim the NCAA title.

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Confidence Level 1
Noah Norton, 20, Chico, Calif.
Spencer Tibbits, 20, Vancouver, Wash.

Norton has been a starter at Georgia Tech for all but one event during his first two seasons with the Yellow Jackets, and had a 70.73 stroke average in 2018-’19. He lives a few hundred miles away from Pebble, and says that he and his family came to watch the U.S. Open when it was played here in 2010. Not long after he made it a goal to try to qualify for the Open the next time it came to Pebble. … Tibbits also is two years into his college career, having been an honourable mention All-Pac 12 selection at Oregon State this past season.

The post U.S. Open 2019: Everything you need to know about the 15 amateurs playing at Pebble Beach appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and 2017 Desert Classic/Masters champion Sergio Garcia will open their bid for the famed Dallah trophy at 8am on Thursday from the Majlis’ 10th tee.

DeChambeau arrives in Dubai for the $3.25 million European Tour event fresh from four wins in his last 13 PGA Tour starts and has form at Emirates Golf Club to draw back on too, having claimed low amateur honours when he finished T-18 in 2016. At No.5 in the current world rankings, the 25-year-old American is the highest ranked player in this week’s field and in more ways than one after a visit to the world’s tallest building on Monday:

All the way up @BurjKhalifa. Had a good time sightseeing around Dubai today in advance of @OMEGAGolfDubai. #mydubai pic.twitter.com/Tu6eXCjFRh

— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) January 21, 2019

Fleetwood, the next best at 14 in the OWGR, is searching for his first win in 12 months. Sixth here last year, the 2018 Race to Dubai champion insists he is feeling sharper after several days of practice at Emirates Golf Club following his rusty T-42 performance in Abu Dhabi last week.  Garcia, meanwhile, will make his first start of the year after ending a one-win 2018 campaign with a T-6 at the Hong Kong Open in late November.

Defending champion Haotong Li will tee it up with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter at 7:40am on Thursday, also from the 10th tee.

Henrik Stenson, the 2007 champion, goes off the same tee 10 minutes later in the company of Abu Dhabi contender Louis Oosthuizen and Ryder Cup rookie Thorbjørn Olesen.

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship winner Shane Lowry will come down off cloud nine onto the 10th also in an 8:10am threesome with Englishmen Matt Wallace and Tyrrell Hatton.

Dubai 19-year-old Rayhan Thomas, who famously made the cut here two seasons ago, has been drawn with big-hitting Kiwi Ryan Fox and fellow Indian Shubhankar Sharma who shot to prominence by winning the Maybank Championship and Joburg Open last year, they bat from tee 10 at 7:20am. Indeed, the 10th tee is where it is at on Thursday, especially for nostalgia buffs with Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal off at 8:20am.

Els’ nephew, and Thomas’ amateur competition, reigning British Amateur champion Jovan Rebula, is off the 1st at 7:50am.

30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic – First Round Tee Times
1st tee
07:10 Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTAÑO, Kim KOIVU, Matthieu PAVON
07:20 Peter HANSON, Darren FICHARDT, Hideto TANIHARA
07:30 Lucas HERBERT, Lee SLATTERY, Joachim B. HANSEN
07:40 Nino BERTASIO, Marcus KINHULT, Dean BURMESTER
07:50 Matthew SOUTHGATE, Gavin GREEN, Jovan REBULA
08:00 Kalle SAMOOJA, Raphaël JACQUELIN, Phachara KHONGWATMAI
08:10 Thongchai JAIDEE, Paul WARING, Mikko KORHONEN
08:20 Andres ROMERO, Bernd WIESBERGER, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA
08:30 Bradley DREDGE, Christiaan BEZUIDENHOUT, Thomas AIKEN
08:40 Shaun NORRIS, James MORRISON, Scott HEND
08:50 Ashley CHESTERS, Victor RIU, Nacho ELVIRA,
11:30 Jeunghun WANG, Renato PARATORE, Richard MCEVOY
11:40 Edoardo MOLINARI, Sam BRAZEL, Joost LUITEN
11:50 Jorge CAMPILLO, Andrew JOHNSTON, Andrea PAVAN
12:00 Tom LEWIS, Adrian OTAEGUI, Byeong Hun AN
12:10 Eddie PEPPERELL, Alexander BJÖRK, Kurt KITAYAMA
12:20 Martin KAYMER, Rafa CABRERA BELLO, David LIPSKY
12:30 Lucas BJERREGAARD, Thomas PIETERS, Matthew FIZPATRICK
12:40 Robert KARLSSON, Thomas DETRY, Aaron RAI
12:50 Brandon STONE, Søren KJELDSEN, Richard STERNE
13:00 Richie RAMSAY, Erik VAN ROOYEN, Romain LANGASQUE
13:10 Kristoffer REITAN, Marc WARREN, Oliver FISHER

10th tee
07:10 Gaganjeet BHULLAR, David DRYSDALE, Trevor IMMELMAN
07:20 Ryan FOX, Shubhankar SHARMA, Rayhan THOMAS (AM)
07:30 Thomas BJØRN, Stephen GALLACHER, Miguel Ángel JIMÉNEZ
07:40 Lee WESTWOOD, Ian POULTER, Haotong LI
07:50 Louis OOSTHUIZEN, Henrik STENSON, Thorbjørn OLESEN
08:00 Tommy FLEETWOOD, Sergio GARCIA, Bryson DECHAMBEAU
08:10 Matt WALLACE, Shane LOWRY, Tyrrell HATTON
08:20 Ernie ELS, Colin MONTGOMERIE, José María OLAZÁBAL
08:30 Ross FISHER, Andy SULLIVAN,,Jason SCRIVENER
08:40 George COETZEE, Jaco VAN ZYL, Mike LORENZO-VERA
08:50 Chris PAISLEY, David HORSEY, Ahmed MARJAN
11:30 Callum SHINKWIN, Matthias SCHWAB, Scott JAMIESON
11:40 Yusaku MIYAZATO, Tapio PULKKANEN, Justin HARDING
11:50 Alvaro QUIROS, Justin WALTERS, David HOWELL
12:00 Fabrizio ZANOTTI, Jordan SMITH, Ashun WU
12:10 Wade ORMSBY, Romain WATTEL, Paul DUNNE
12:20 Jacques KRUYSWIJK, Steven BROWN, Victor DUBUISSON
12:30 Benjamin HEBERT, Maximilian KIEFFER, Pelle EDBERG
12:40 Nicolas COLSAERTS, Pablo LARRAZÁBAL, Robert ROCK
12:50 Alexander LEVY, Joakim LAGERGREN, Kristoffer BROBERG
13:00 Jens DANTORP, Haydn PORTEOUS, Victor PEREZ
13:10 Sam HORSFIELD, Sean CROCKER, Adri ARNAUS

The post ODDC TEE-TIMES: DeChambeau grouped with Fleetwood, Garcia; Dubai amateur Thomas draws big-hitting Kiwi and countryman Sharma appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Much has already been made of Jovan Rebula’s showdown with Dubai amateur prodigy Rayhan Thomas at next month’s 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Only time will tell if their battle develops into anything noteworthy but you can be sure Thomas won’t be the only celebrated name in the cross-hairs of Rebula, the 21-year-old reigning British Amateur champion.

The South African will also get another European Tour crack at uncle Ernie Els after the four-time major champion and three-time Desert Classic winner was confirmed on Wednesday for his 17^th appearance at the $3.25 million event at Emirates Golf Club from Jan. 24-27.

Related: Bryson DeChambeau set to bring his sorcery back to Dubai for 30th Desert Classic

Els edged their showdown at last week’s South African Open in Joburg, won by an emotional Louis Oosthuizen, after finishing T-15 on -8, two shots and nine places ahead of Rebula who still played remarkably well to win the Freddie Tait Cup for low amateur honours following rounds of 67-70-70-71 at Randpark Golf Club.

They even savoured the chance to play together in the third round:

A proud Uncle Ernie ?@TheBig_Easy on playing alongside his nephew, Amateur Champion @JovanRebula during today’s third round at the #SAOpen. pic.twitter.com/1CPUM6jfsi

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 8, 2018

“We are really excited to welcome back such an iconic golf legend for his17th appearance in our tournament,” tournament director David Spencer said of the World Golf Hall of Famer who first won the Dallah trophy in 1994 before triumphing again in 2002 and 2005.

“Ernie is always a crowd favourite and he obviously has a special history on the Majlis course. To have both the Big Easy and the Little Easy playing together alongside Louis [Oosthuizen] will give a really special South African storyline to the tournament.

“He may be turning 50 next year, but a fourth victory will be within his grasp.”

Els still holds the Majlis course record, an opening round 61 set in 1994. The 12 birdies and 21 putts helped secure Els his first European Tour victory aged 24 and is a record that remains intact today, 25 years on.

Els poses with the Dallah trophy after his 2005 victory.

Eight years later, Els, who owns a pair of claret jugs and two U.S. Open titles, won by four shots from the Swede Niclas Fasth before rolled in a 20-foot eagle putt to edge Welshman Stephen Dodd and Spanish legend  Miguel Ángel Jiménez in 2005 to complete his Desert Classic hat-trick.

Els is the only player to have won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic three times. In his first 11 appearances, Els did not finish lower than 11th including three wins, three runners-up and three third place finishes.

omegadubaidesertclassic

The post Proud Uncle Ernie set to join the ‘Little Easy’ at 30th Desert Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 19-year-old, Dubai-domiciled Indian No.1 has been granted another special invite to the Desert Swing event from Jan. 24-27 and will tee it up at his beloved Emirates Golf Club alongside rising South African star Rebula. The 21-year-old from George is perhaps best known as the nephew of the Desert Classic’s only three-time winner, four-time major champion, Ernie Els. But Rebula clearly has game to go with the fabled family name after becoming the first South African to win the British Am since Bobby Cole in 1966.

Related: Ernie Els’ nephew wins British Amateur at Royal Aberdeen

Thomas’ global stock rose when he carded an opening 68 en-route to making his first European Tour cut at the 2017 Desert Classic, eventually settling for 60^th place following further rounds of 75-74-74 on the Majlis.

After a practice round with Rory McIlroy, the Dubai Creek member struggled last year, rounds of 73-77 seeing him miss the cut and finish 131^st, one spot and a shot better than tournament tail-gunner Darren Clarke, the former Open champion and current MENA Tour patron.

But Thomas will have high expectations next month after earning a spot in qualifying for the 148^th Open Championship at Royal Portrush by finishing runner-up at the 10^th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Singapore before winning his second professional title at last month’s 11^th King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain late last month.

Related: Text exchange after Thomas’ King Hamad triumph gives insight into teen’s steely focus on the future

“The Omega Dubai Desert Classic is one of my favourite events of the year and is always special for me. It is a great honour to be invited to play in the tournament,” Thomas said.

“The Majlis course is like my home course. I am feeling confident in my game and am looking forward to returning – 2019 is sure to be a special one.”

Rebula will make his Middle East debut at Emirates G.C., and will be grateful for the big-time experience given what he has coming up in 2019. The South African’s prize for winning the British Am at Royal Aberdeen last June? Just starts at the Masters in April and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June.

Jovan Rebula beat Irishman Robin Dawson 3&2 in the 36-hole British Amateur Championship final at Royal Aberdeen last June.
Mark Runnacles/R&A

The Auburn University player has already experienced the Open Championship, a tournament Uncle Ernie famously won twice. Rebula signed for rounds of 79-79 at Carnoustie in July to finish third from last, coincidentally a place – but seven shots – clear of Clarke.

“Being invited to play in such an iconic tournament is a huge privilege. I am really looking forward to the Omega Dubai Desert Classic being my first [pure]  European Tour event, especially as the tournament holds so much history for my uncle,” said Rebula.

Els first won the Desert Classic in 1994 by six strokes from Greg Norman. He went on to hoist the coveted dallah in 2002 and 2005.

Rebula is ranked 65^th in the official World Amateur Golf Ranking, 15 spots above his career best of 50^th. Thomas, who will play collegiate golf at Rickie Fowler’s alma mater, Oklahoma State University, next year, is currently ranked 21^st after being as low as 13^th.

“We are thrilled to have Rayhan and Jovan join us for the 30th edition of the tournament,” said ODDC tournament director David Spencer.

“They are both exceptional young players and I look forward to seeing them in action. To think neither of these young stars were born when we hosted our first tournament in 1989.”

For tournament information, tickets and hospitality packages, visit omegadubaidesertclassic.com

The post Thomas to take on Ernie Els’ nephew in spicy amateur showdown at 30th Desert Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
For the first time in more than half a century, a South African has won the British Amateur championship. Fifty-two years after Bobby Cole lifted the now 123-year-old trophy at Carnoustie, Jovan Rebula’s 3-and-2 victory over Irishman Robin Dawson in the 36-hole final at Royal Aberdeen guaranteed the 20-year-old Springbok a place in the next month’s Open Championship, as well as trips to the 2019 Masters and U.S Open.

Even more special is the fact that the new champion’s uncle, a fellow by the name of Ernie Els, will join him in the first of those events, coincidentally at Carnoustie. So Rebula will have no problem finding someone to play with on practice days.

But all of that is for the future. At the end of a grueling week on Scotland’s bracing northeast coast, Rebula’s smoothly rhythmic action—eerily reminiscent of his mother’s brother—was perhaps the key factor in outlasting Dawson. The Irish stroke-play champion from Tramore, whose pace of play borders on glacial, was only 1 down at lunch but his flurry of poor shots on the Balgownie Links’ brutally difficult front-nine proved to be the turning point in the match.

Four dropped shots and a concession at the fifth hole, the match’s 23rd, left Dawson 5-down after 27 holes, a load that initially looked to be too much to carry against such a consistent opponent. Hang on though. As ever in match play, there was time for nerves to kick in. Rebula stumbled first at the 13th and 14th. On both greens he missed putts from short range, the second of which was for the match. A bladed greenside bunker shot then gifted the 15th to Dawson. Five-over par for those three holes, Rebula was back to only 3-up. Suddenly, it was all getting a little bit edgy.

But not disastrous. One hole later, it was over, the 377-yard 16th halved in par 4s.

“I’m very happy and very pleased with myself, the way I handled myself this week,” Rebula said. “I’ve really been playing solid and haven’t made many mistakes. It’s a huge honor for me to call myself the Amateur champion. It’s something out of this world.

“Being 5-up through 27 holes it’s always difficult when you’ve got such a margin because you don’t know if you should put your foot on the pedal or on the brake. I didn’t make it as easy as I thought it would but at the end of the day to just get the job done is all that you need.”

Mark Runnacles/R&A
Rebula’s swing has a decent resemblance to his famous uncle.

Still, those late struggles were far from unusual for Rebula en route to the biggest victory in his fledgling career. After qualifying for match play in reasonably comfortable fashion—his 144 aggregate in stroke-play qualifying was three shots inside the “top-64 and ties” cutline—the Auburn University student was taken at least as far as the 17th green in all of his matches before he beat Englishman Mitch Waite, 6 and 4, in the semifinals on Friday.

Not surprisingly, there were final words for Uncle Ernie, who also participated in an Amateur final back in 1988 at Royal Porthcawl. But only as a losing caddie for fellow South African, Ben Fouchee. So not quite the same as lifting the historic trophy.

“We have a very tight relationship,” said Rebula of Els. “He’s always motivating me. He just said go out and have some fun and grab the opportunity with both hands. You’ve got this opportunity only once and it will open doors for you. He’s awesome. Just a great human being.”

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