OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Growing up in England, playing golf nearly every day from age six to 18 at West Cornwall Golf Club, Harry Hall idolized Phil Rowe, the associate head coach for UNLV men’s golf and a Walker Cup player for Great Britain & Ireland. Rowe’s bag from that biennial competition for amateurs against the United States is on display at the West Cornwall clubhouse and Hall was often asked what about him?
“People always used to say, ‘H, are you going to put a Walker Cup bag up there one day?’ ” he recalled. “And I always said, ‘A Ryder Cup one.’ ”
Hall took care of the first — playing in the 2019 Walker Cup and his bag, too, is on display at the clubhouse — and he very well may make his dream come true. Hall is making a serious run at earning a captain’s pick for the European Ryder Cup team.
“It would be massive,” Hall said.
Harry Hall is shining at BMW Championship
He didn’t hurt his chances on Friday, shooting 3-under 67 at Caves Valley during the second round at the BMW Championship, marking the 42nd time in his last 46 rounds that he’s been at par or better. This season, he ranks first in total birdies and birdies average and is No. 1 in Strokes Gained: putting on Tour. According to Data Golf, he’s the fifth-best European player during the last three months. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald and data analytics whiz Edoardo Molinari, who is one of Donald’s vice captains, hasn’t been crunching the numbers and come to the conclusion that one of the 12 spots on the Euro team needs to have Hall’s name on it. But to hear Hall tell it, there hasn’t been a lot of interaction between him and the Euro team leadership. He said he hasn’t even been fitted for a uniform.
“(Luke will) text me now and then, but I haven’t got any measurements,” Hall said.
The Englishman has improved his putting a bit this season, but the real difference has been off the tee. He started working with Butch Harmon late last year and found a Ping driver that suited his game.
“The big thing is probably not losing a stroke tee to green and just being average, which I knew if I could just being average tee to green, then I could have a very good year, and it’s looking like all the numbers are saying that I’m average tee to green,” he said. “I like to look at the numbers, and I know if I can just average gaining 1.2 strokes a round, then it equates to playing really good golf and getting really far in the FedEx Cup.”
Veteran caddie helped Hall’s trajectory
The last missing ingredient for Hall may have been veteran caddie Henry Diana, who is one of the best in the business. They started working together at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
“His experience and knowledge has been a huge asset,” Hall said. “He’s made me a better person on the course.”
Diana knew he was a hard worker and had a wonderful touch on the green. He knew he was a top putter but didn’t know he was this good. “Maybe Steve Stricker’s better,” he said. “But Harry is as good as I’ve ever seen.”
But Hall can be hard on himself and it may have held him back until he finally won last season at the ISCO Championship. He’s recorded 13 top-25 finishes this season and is projected to improve to No. 29 and his first ticket to East Lake and the Tour Championship. In short, it may be time to fit Hall for a Ryder Cup team uniform and for Captain Donald to make sure that Hall’s trademark driving cap is ready for his locker.
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