Fife-born golfer Calum Hill targeting joining Drumoig’s Connor Syme at 151st Open

This week’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Nick Faldo offers three further opportunities for players to secure a place at this season’s final major.

That event at the Belfry at Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire is followed by the Made in Himmerland in Denmark and the Genesis Scottish Open at North Berwick, both offering three further tickets apiece.

On top of that, at least 16 are up for grabs at next Tuesday’s final qualifiers at Dundonald Links in North Ayrshire, Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, Royal Porthcawl in Wales and West Lancashire Golf Club in Liverpool.

Syme, 27, is one of four Scots – along with Ewen Ferguson, Bob MacIntyre and Richie Ramsay – among 28 players teeing up at the Belfry already exempt for the Claret Jug event in three weeks’ time at Hoylake’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club on the Wirral.

For Hill, of Kinross, and five others, though, there’s the added incentive of vying for an Open slot, and the 28-year-old is especially keen to claim one to make up for last year as he’d been on course to secure an exemption for the 150th Open on home turf at St Andrews via the Race to Dubai rankings, only to miss out due to injury.

“I want to be there in Liverpool, so I will be putting my foot down trying to have a good finish over the next three weeks and see what we can do,” he said.

“I would have been there in 2022. It was the top 30 in the Race to Dubai and I was 22nd but then got injured and finished 31st.”

He added, laughing: “It didn’t matter in respect of me being unable to play last year, but, at the same time, it was a bit frustrating, so I deserve an Open.”

Hill signed off with an eagle worth £7,500 as he finished in the top ten, in joint-tenth place, in the BMW International Open in Munich at the weekend, his first outing after recovering from a back injury.

That was only three weeks after he’d been forced to withdraw at the halfway stage in the European Open in Hamburg, but Germany proved to be a happier hunting ground this time round as his return to DP World Tour action earned him a payout of just over £30,000.

He’d run up a double-bogey in the final round on Sunday but then hit a five-wood to around five feet at the par-five 18th hole at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried and rolled in the eagle putt.

“It’s made me a bit happier after having a bit of a fud around 15. It’s good,” said Hill after after scoring 70 to finish on an eight-under-par 280.

“It’s nice. It’s not something I would have expected as I’m still feeling wary about the back and it gave me a little bit of bother from 13 onwards today, but, other than that, I’m delighted.

“It wasn’t the best ball-striking, but the pace control with my putting was really good.

“From any range, I was hitting them to tap-in distance and they all had a chance, so the putter was really good.”

That was his best finish since securing third place in the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan in April.

He finished two shots in front of Syme, his fellow Fifer having got first hole-in-one as a tour professional at the second in the penultimate round after starting with a triple-bogey seven.

Syme ended up joint-14th, on a six-under-par 282, after mixing two birdies with two bogeys on Sunday.

“I really didn’t have my best stuff today, so it was nice to score in a different way and, overall, it was a positive week,” he reflected on Sunday.

About his hole-in-one, he added: “To be fair, it never left the flag but, at the same time, you are never expecting it to go in, but it bounced and was online for ages and, as it kept rolling and rolling, I was like ‘is that going to go in?’”