By Mathieu Wood
Life is good for Harry Hall at the moment. The Englishman's road to making his first start as a professional on home soil might be different from the norm, but here he is, thrilled by the prospect of embarking on a stretch of golf that will see him play at some of the United Kingdom’s most historic venues.
While he is one of the home stars teeing it up in the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry, Hall is perhaps better known to American fans than he is by English fans. Prior to this week, Hall had only played in seven events on the DP World Tour.
After turning professional in 2019, following a four-year stint at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), Hall played on the Korn Ferry Tour from 2020 to 2022, before gaining a PGA TOUR card for the 2022-23 season. As referenced earlier, it is a path trodden by many stateside but perhaps not so for players who hail from across the Atlantic Ocean.
Born in Camborne, in Cornwall, England, Hall picked up the sport from a young age, joining West Cornwall Golf Club as a member, before later going on to enjoy a successful amateur career which included him being selected to play at the Walker Cup in 2019.
So, five years on from playing alongside Alex Fitzpatrick among others at Hoylake, Hall is understandably excited by the prospect of ending his wait to play in front of home crowds in the paid ranks.
"Hopefully they know who I am and that I am English!" he joked.
The historic British Masters marks the first in a sequence of starts on British shores, with forthcoming appearances in the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down GC and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club on the DP World Tour to come in September.
“I always wanted to play over here since I turned professional, and it just didn't work out that way,” he said at a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
“Worked my way through the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR to then win a co-sanctioned event which was fantastic. Hopefully I can get a lot of friends and family to come up and watch this week and over the next few weeks.
"I've never played the Belfry, Royal County Down, or Wentworth. I'm excited to play some of the UK's finest golf courses over the next few weeks."
The 27-year-old, who welcomed his first child with wife Jordan last month, only took up membership after winning his first PGA TOUR and DP World Tour title at the ISCO Championship in July, the same week that the Genesis Scottish Open took place on the Rolex Series.
With the victory, achieved with a chip-in birdie in a play-off, and one which saw him emulate Seamus Power (2021) and Vincent Norrman (2023) in landing their breakthrough triumph in the event, Hall is now exempt on the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR through to 2026. He also earned exemptions into the 2025 editions of The Sentry, THE PLAYERS Championship and the US PGA Championship.
Yet, there is no doubt over what is Hall's burning ambition in the game: to win the Green Jacket at Augusta National.
Asked what his plan is going forward now that he is a dual member, he replied: "Play on both tours, play all the majors and hopefully take the green jacket home. That's the plan."
Should he do so, he would achieve something that even ‘Long’ Jim Barnes, who cut his teeth at West Cornwall Golf Club, couldn't do early on in the 20th century.
To this day, even after years living stateside, Hall's Cumbrian accent remains intact. He is well aware of what Barnes achieved in his career, winning the 1916 and 1919 PGA Championship, 1921 U.S. Open and 1925 Open Championship.
It is partly thanks to Phil Rowe, who himself played at the Walker Cup in 1991 and also comes from Cornwall, for where Hall is today.
"Philip Rowe, who was all over the clubhouse, played great amateur golf," he reflected.
"He went to Stanford University and fast forward ten years I was looking to go to college over there and he moved from being the assistant coach at Stanford to UNLV at the time and just because of our connection, he offered me a scholarship."
The rest is history as they say.
"I think if you're good enough, you can turn professional when you're 18 over here (England)," he said of his route into the paid ranks.
"You can do that, or if you're not quite good enough, and you need a bit more time, the U.S. college system is a great way to just get an education of how to play golf.
"So, I needed to do that. I wasn't quite good enough at 18 to turn professional. Four years on the field and it worked out pretty good for me."
Since his life-changing victory at the ISCO Championship in Kentucky last month, Hall has played twice on the PGA TOUR and arrives at the Belfry on the cusp of moving inside the top 100 in the world.
But after years of playing on the PGA TOUR, Hall admits it took support from his family to motivate himself in the days leading up to the tournament.
"I remember talking to my dad at the start of the week because it is an opposite-field event, and sometimes they are pretty tough when you are playing against the best players in the world in the biggest PGA TOUR events," he said.
"I had to fit my mind-set and go what does 300 points do for me for the FedExCup or what does a two-year exemption do for my life.
"It was massive. My dad kept me grounded and kept my mind in a good place. Since then it's so good to be back here creating a schedule that's worldwide, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
But, here this week on his homecoming, Hall is not short of motivation as he looks to make a quick impression in front of a new audience.
