Lockdown gave Connor Syme a chance to recharge, now he’s ready to tee it up on the European Tour again

Connor, from Drumoig, had to do make do with nets in his garden for practice during the early weeks of restrictions, before being able to take to the course again recently.

And with the European Tour ready to resume in July, things are starting to drip back to normality after the enforced coronavirus break.

Back to back dual events with the Challenge Tour in Austria in the early part of next month have been pencilled in by Connor before the main tour starts properly with a UK swing of six events, starting with the Betfred Masters, on July 22.

However, quarantine measures in the UK means those plans are still to be finalised.

“Austria is 67 European Tour players and 67 Challenge Tour players so I should be ok for that,” said Connor.

“It’s a smaller prize fund than normal but I’ll certainly try to play the first event because I’ve played that course a few times, so it would be nice to start there.

“Then, providing the quarantine stuff isn’t too bad, I’d be able to come back and play the British events.

“But that’s still a bit up in the air at the minute so I don’t want to definitely commit to Austria.

“The tour’s discussions with the Government are on-going and we’ll be tested each week.

“If the test comes back negative then we shouldn’t have to quarantine for two weeks.

“Hopefully I’ll get to play in Austria and then in the UK.”

The European Tour has been on the shelve since March’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Since then golfers joined the rest of us in sitting it out until lockdown restrictions were eased.

After a busy start to the tour season, which saw Connor play seven events and pick up a healthy 171.4 Race to Dubai points, the break offered a chance to re-charge the batteries.

“It’s been long and I’ve just been at home trying to practice the best I can,” said Connor.

“It’s been good and bad really.

“Getting the rest has been great; I’ve never had this much of a break since I played amateur, so it’s been nice in that respect.

“But I’m getting back into work now and I’m looking forward to that.

“I was hitting a lot of shots into a net at home but it’s not the same.

“You need to play, you’re not going to learn a lot with just a net, you need to get round a golf course.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play some really good courses over the last couple of weeks.

“Now I’m looking to get my game sharp for starting again.”

The Austrian Open tees off on July 9 before the Euram Bank Open is played a week later.

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