If you hadn’t heard of young Australian golfer Adam Thorp, you have now.
On Saturday, the 17-year-old from Canberra joined an illustrious group of golfers including fellow Australian Jason Day (2004), David Toms (1984), and Nick Price (1974) in winning the Junior World Championship at the famed Torrey Pines in California.
Afterwards, Thorp revealed a whopping 15 US colleges are after his signature to start an NCAA career with them.
You’re probably going to see his name a fair bit during the next few years, so get to know this talented youngster now.
1. He’s got ticker
Thorp was cruising comfortably atop the leaderboard at Torrey Pines before admitting nerves played a part in a string of bogeys on the back nine. After taking a 5 on the par-4 17th, he dropped into a share of the lead. He then pulled his drive into the rough on the par-5 18th. But he showed true grit to lay up and wedge it to 15 feet, before making the most clutch birdie putt of his impressive junior and amateur career for a one-shot win.
2. He used a secret weapon to inspire his World Junior Championship victory
Thorp admitted he watched videos of Woods’ 2008 US Open victory and Day’s two Farmers Insurance Open titles (2015 and 2018) at Torrey Pines the night before the final round.
“Dad and I sat down for 30 minutes the night before and watched the 2008 US Open, Day’s PGA Tour wins there and Tiger’s win at the 2013 Farmers to pump myself up as much as I could,” Thorp told AAP.
3. He joins an impressive group of Australian winners at the event
Thorp became the fifth Australian to etch his name on the trophy after Ryan Ruffels (2014), Matthew Giles (2006), Day (2004) and Andrew Buckle (2000,1999). All five have gone on to play on the US PGA, European, Asian and Australasian tours.
4. He’s eyeing a US college career
Thorp will play the R&A’s Boys Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush and Portstewart in August, but shortly before that he will make his decision on which of the American university he will choose to play out his collegiate career.
“I’m talking to about 15 coaches from colleges like Marquette, Arkansas, Michigan, Georgia State and Virginia,” he said.
“College golf is a big stepping stone that a most of the top golfers go through and it’d be great to test my game against the best collegiate players and go from there.”
5. He’s a Federal Golf Club member
If you’ve ever played the absolute gem in our nation’s capital that is Federal GC, you’ll know you need to be a good driver of the golf ball and have a high ball-flight with your irons to do well around that tree-lined, mountainous layout. Both of those traits bode well for a golfer trying to move up the ranks in American golf.
