Patel has drawn heavy praise from coaches.
Promising Indian American teen golfer Rij Patel, 18, from Hunt Valley, Maryland, and a graduate of McDonogh School, is headed to Harvard.
Patel, who has drawn heavy praises from his coaches and peers alike, has also shown determination beyond his years, by changing his unorthodox swing after he got recurring pain. He has now settled into a new swing for the past two years and is getting ready to shift gears once he enters Harvard.
“I was having way too many upper back and neck injuries,” Patel was quoted as saying by the Baltimore Sun. “There was a loop at the top of my swing. I was bringing it inside and then swinging over the top. People were surprised I was able to pull off such good shots with that swing.”
The 18-year-old Patel loaded up on tournaments this summer to sharpen his game for college. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound Patel will play at Harvard University, where practices start Aug. 29. He believes he has a legitimate opportunity to crack the starting lineup, but he understands it will be difficult, the Sun reported.
“I think if I am playing my best golf, there’s a good chance I will be in the top five,” said Patel, who chose Harvard over Yale and Columbia universities and the University of Pennsylvania.
The golf coaches at Harvard are eager to see what he can do for the Crimson.
“He would be a strong prospect for any school in the country,” said Fred Schernecker, Harvard’s director of golf. “His golf career has been top-notch. He has done extremely well in events, but also qualifying for the premier events in the country.”
Schernecker calls Patel’s calm demeanor his biggest asset. It’s what he covets in a golfer.
“Ninety or 95 percent of what we look for is how they carry themselves on the golf course,” he said, “whether they are in control of their emotions, how they approach their game and react to shots. That’s really what impressed us about Rij.”
McDonogh coach Wright Abbot agrees strongly with Schernecker, and also praises Patel’s character. He talks more about his character than his golf skills in an interview.
“He’s been an extraordinary golfer in the MIAA (Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association),” the coach said. “But if you ask other league coaches, the first thing they will say is that he is a better human being and how much respect they have for him. He never loses his temper. The Loyola coach [William McLean] said he has been teaching 40 years and never has seen anybody like him.”
Abbot says Patel is the best golfer he’s coached in 31 years on the job at the Owings Mills school. It’s easy to understand why. Patel played two years on the International Junior Golf Tour before high school and earned the No. 1 ranking in the 14-and-under Northeast Division in 2013.
He accomplished bigger things last year, qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in South Carolina after shooting a 71 and 68 at the United States Naval Academy Golf Club.
“It’s one of the toughest tournaments in the world to qualify for,” Schernecker said. “So qualifying for that is a really big deal.”
This summer, Patel finished second in the AJGA Philadelphia Junior Tournament. He also competed in several national events, including the Haas Family Invitational in North Carolina and the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Georgia, reported the Sun.