Whiz Kid

Josh Hill made no race of this season’s EGF Order of Merit series. So what’s next for the Dubai-born teen phenom?

- Kent Gray

It’s a stat any touring professional would be proud to own – 54 under par in a scarcely believable 11 tournament run since February. Yet the record doesn’t belong to a busy European or PGA Tour star, rather a kid barely 14-years-old.

Josh Hill hasn’t so much crept up as the hottest amateur prospect in Middle East golf since Rayhan Thomas as he’s scorched a hole through that once distant glass ceiling.

He’s made winning such a habit recently it’s hard to keep up and a danger to commit the next stat to print for fear he might triumph again in the matter of days between the printing of this edition and its distribution to his home club of

Jumeirah Golf Estates and beyond. Just know that he’d rattled off eight wins in the three months to late April. Six of those came in Open Men’s events as he ran away with the Emirates Golf Federation Order of Merit title while creating course records of 65 and 68 at Trump Dubai and the Track respectively. The two other wins? Repeat U-16 and overall titles at the Faldo Series Middle East Championship at Al Ain, an event open to golfers up to the age of 21.

Winning with such on-going regularity is unrealistic but those in the know agree Hill is the real deal, albeit with an PG14 rating/ caveat; not all teen phenoms go on to be tour stars. The giddy ride thus far is still a hugely encouraging pointer to the future but before we get there it’s fun to push rewind and discover his equally impressive start in the game.

Hill’s father Russell, who played squash to an elite level back in England, hadn’t considered playing golf himself until his son started to show promise after progressing through the UAE’s traditional development programmes and Par 3 events.