Connor Syme refuses to be cut without a fight while Calum Hill aims upwards

The local European Tour pros joined up with the rest of the tour’s card holders for the competition’s official return at Close House in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

The tour resumed with a two-week stretch in Austria, but those fields were co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour.

Drumoig 25-year-old Connor took advantage of the earlier than expected start in Austria, surging to a top five finish at the Austrian Open.

He was fancied to continue his excellent form this week when the event teed off on Wednesday, the first of six being held on these shores as part of a ‘UK swing’.

Sadly Connor failed to ignite on his opening 18 holes and was left with an uphill task when he took to the course again for the second day.

Wednesday’s opening 18 holes were up and down, his three birdies shadowed by four bogeys.

A fast start was needed on Thursday morning but two bogeys in his opening nine holes saw Connor fall further behind the cut mark.

The Drumoig ace is nothing if not resilient, and showed a magnificent attitude on the back nine, three birdies wiping out the earlier damage.

But his hopes suffered a real dent on his last hole with a double bogey six.

Calum, on the other hand, showed absolutely no signs of rust as he raced to an opening -4 (67).

He teed off for his second round on Thursday afternoon, aiming to catch the pack in front, which was being led by fellow Scot David Law.

Six birdies and two bogeys in his first 18 saw him begin with a steady 67.

The Kinross pro sat out the Austrian events and said his time off the tour has been well spent working on his game.

Calum went into the British Masters sitting in 114th place on the Race to Dubai rankings and admits the enforced lay-off was timely.

He told our sister title The Scotsman: “I wasn’t in great shape, so the break was timely for me to put a lot of work in.

“Not that good weeks weren’t good, it would just fall apart and I wouldn’t know how to fix it.

“Now, thanks to the work I have been doing with my coach, Davy Burns, I have an idea of what goes on in my swing and what my tendencies are, and how to quickly correct it if they’re a little off from day to day.

“It’s worked out well for me.”

The tournament is being hosted by Lee Westwood and being held behind closed doors.

The Englishman admitted having no fans at the course is a big loss. He said: “They provide the atmosphere and the noise. You can feed off that as a player and obviously lots of people came to the event and we could have sold more tickets, and everyone enjoyed themselves on the golf course and in the tented village.”