Calum Hill looks to shine on home soil at Nexo Championship

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

As for DP World Tour champion Calum Hill? Well, ups and downs are all just part of the day job.
A month or so ago at the Renaissance, Hill was right in the thick of it after a first round 65 in the Genesis Scottish Open. The next day, he was nursing the wounds of a 77 that led to him missing the cut.
What were we saying about peaks and troughs, again?
'The Scottish Open was very odd,' said Hill, who is back in action on home turf at this week's Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links.
'On the second day I putted just as well as day one and every putt caught on the edge. Every shot took a bounce and ended up on a downslope. It was just one of those days where it just gets away from you.
'It's funny. I could go on peaks and troughs with golf but when it's been a trough I'd be thinking my game is nowhere close.
'But it's never felt far away this time. There are better things in there, I just need it all to click.'
Hill certainly got it to click in South Africa earlier this season when he won his second DP World Tour title at the Joburg Open.
Since that triumph, it's been a bit of a mixed bag. In his last 12 events, he's enjoyed a share of third at the Italian Open, but he's also endured six missed cuts, including three in a row heading into this week's stop-off near Aberdeen.
The links test here will be as hard as a clump of Rubislaw granite and an early reconnaissance mission a few weeks ago was quite an eye-opener.
'I think I started triple-bogey and double-bogey,' he said with a wry smile. 'I didn't know where I was the first few holes. But it was still good fun.
'The difficult thing is it's not like some links course where you get a bit of leeway. Here it's fairways or bushes and it's quite penal.
"You'll have a lot of reloading. It's very strong off the tee and the greens are slightly upturned so you have a lot of runoffs. So, if you get it wrong it could be like ping pong.'
In the here, there and everywhere birl of touring life, golfers have to quickly adapt to all manner of conditions, challenges and curiosities.
The DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi, for instance, is widely viewed as the hardest course on the circuit. So, where does Trump's track sit?
'It's not quite as extreme as India,' said Hill. 'It (DLF) is the most extreme in that you hit either the fairway or you're in the munch. This is not far off India, mind you.
"In India, you don't get the 30mph winds like you do here. You can ask me the question again on Sunday.'
While Hill looks to get himself back in the swing, his fellow Scot, Danny Young, has made the trip north in a buoyant mood following his maiden win on the HotelPlanner – formerly Challenge – Tour last weekend.
Young, who also qualified for The Open during a decent summer, bolstered his push for promotion to the main DP World Tour with a timely success in the Scottish Challenge at the Roxburghe near Kelso.
'Absolutely,' he replied when asked if he can contend again on this step-up to the cut-and-thrust of competition on the main tour.
'My game is good. I'm familiar with the course and the way the forecast is supposed to be. I think it should favour the home-grown players a bit, having played a bit more in heavier winds off the sea.
'Little things like having the patience to play links golf can add up a bit in your favour. So, I don't see any reason why I can't compete at this level.'
Prior to his breakthrough win, Young had finished second and third on the HotelPlanner Tour before making a major debut in The Open at Portrush.
This week's examination will provide a very different test to the parkland layout of the Roxburghe and Young is very much up for the challenge.
'You are going to make mistakes, you are going to make bogeys,' added he 32-year-old from Perth. 'Last week was pretty score-able and the weather was beautiful, so you could go and make a lot of birdies.
"This week it will be more a case of trying to take the opportunities when they present themselves.'
Opportunity knocks again for the upwardly mobile Young.