Dubai teen heading to UK to compete against golf's rising stars

Dubai-based teenager Dominic Morton is hoping to back up a maiden World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) victory with a strong summer of golf in the United Kingdom.

Morton emerged victorious at the Emirates Golf Federation’s (EGF) season-ending Order of Merit Championship earlier this month, defeating Junior Dubai Desert Classic champion Viktor Kofod-Olsen in a play-off at Al Zorah Golf Club.

The 18-year-old will now head back to home soil to compete in several prestigious amateur tournaments, including the English Amateur, which has been won by Paul Casey, Danny Willett and Sir Nick Faldo, as well as Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship.

“I am excited with what is ahead of me,” said Morton, who moved to Dubai in 2018.

“I am looking forward to playing in the English and Scottish Boys’ Championships as well as the English Amateur and Scottish Amateur in the next few weeks.

“This will be my last opportunity to be in the Boys’ Divisions as next season I will be too old. I will also play in some North West regional events as well as The Open Qualifier at Hesketh.”

Following his stint in the UK, Morton will then wave goodbye to the UAE and make his way to the States, where he will spend the next four years on a golf scholarship studying business at Odessa University in Texas.

The youngster becomes the latest in a long line of UAE-based hotshots to make the move, joining the likes of Rayhan Thomas, Josh Hill and Toby Bishop in the collegiate golf circuit in the United States.

“I understand I must keep my academics up to date to ensure I can continue my golf,” he said.

“It is practice and gym work in the mornings, and in the afternoons classwork for my studies and then weekends are all about golf and tournaments.

“I understand I will be generally left to my own devices on the technical side of the game at University under the watchful eye of our Head Coach Brad Stracke. My target is to play some good golf and get in the University team.

“I am also in regular contact with my good friends Josh Hill and Toby Bishop, who are already at University in the US. It is good to have some friends there already. There is even a girl I played Lancashire County junior golf with before I came to Dubai, who is also going to Odessa.”

While the collegiate golf circuit in the US will be an entirely different animal to what Morton has become accustomed to in the UAE, with the talent pool in the States increasing tenfold, he can be safe in the knowledge that he has proved his mettle on the UAE circuit.

If he can replicate that form in the ‘big league’ that is US collegiate golf, the world could well be his oyster.