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Scotsman
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scotland's latest DP World Tour golf champion opens up on win
Scot praised by his caddie and fellow Dundee resident for keeping calm head in KLM Open Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When you are recovering from a triple hernia operation, it might not be the best time to be jumping about a bit more than you probably should be, but Stuart Syme can surely be forgiven. It's not every day, after all, when you get to experience the joy and pleasure of seeing the person you've introduced to golf as a youngster then taught for so long landing what will be one of the most popular wins in the sport in 2025. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Connor Syme wouldn't have been crowned as the KLM Open champion on Sunday, landing his breakthrough win on the DP World Tour in the process and becoming the 11th first-time champion on the circuit this season, if it hadn't been for his old man. A promising player himself when he was coming through the ranks at Ladybank, Syme snr was the PGA professional at Dumfries & County Golf Club when Connor took up the game and, once his son had got hopes of becoming a footballer out of his system, golf then became his main focus. Connor Syme shows off the trophy after winning the KLM Open on Sunday at The International Golf Club in the Netherlands |Under his dad's guidance as a coach after the family had moved back to Fife when Stuart took up ownership of Drumoig Golf Centre, Syme won the 2016 Australian Amateur Championship before then landing a first success in the professional ranks in the Turkish Airlines Challenge in 2019. Since last year, Syme has also been working with Jamie Gough, the Fife-based brother of former Scotland and Rangers defender Richard, but there was absolutely no denying who was probably the happiest man in the world on Sunday afternoon. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I had a brief chat with my dad before I went in to see the volunteers,' Syme told The Scotsman as he reflected on his brilliant breakthrough win on the main tour after landing a two-shot success at The International in Amsterdam. 'He was absolutely buzzing as he's obviously been with me since the start of my golf career and taught me the game. 'He's had a triple hernia operation and I was saying to him that I hope you've not caused any damage, but he said that he was jumping up and down more than he probably should have been (laughing). It is so cool.' Over the past few years, Syme had seen Bob MacIntyre, David Law, Ewen Ferguson, Grant Forrest and Calum Hill all land maiden DP World Tour title triumphs while seeing some good opportunities to do likewise - he'd held a 54-hole lead on three previous occasions - agonisingly slip from his grasp. Connor Syme celebrated fellow Scot Calum Hill's success in the Joburg Open earlier in the year and now knows himself what it means to win on the DP World Tour | Getty Images At no point, however, did that look as though it was going to happen again after the 29-year-old hit the front in tough conditions in the Netherlands with a brilliant bogey-free 66 in Saturday's third round then signed off with a rock-solid 70 that contained just one dropped shot to win by two shots. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I felt really calm for the most part,' admitted Syme of his polished performance on the last day. 'Obviously there was a lot of nervous energy about, but I was quite pleased how I was able to put that into the right areas, I suppose, and just focus on the task at hand. 'I definitely felt different this time than when I had been in contention in the past. Probably more like Wales when I first had a really good opportunity to win back in 2020 (in the Celtic Classic. I thought I was going to win there and obviously I didn't. 'To have felt those emotions then, I was very cautious that it could happen again and things could all change so quickly. So, every time I found myself thinking about potentially winning on this occasion and what it could feel like, I kept reminding myself of that. 'Obviously me and Ryan [McGuigan, his caddie] have been together for such a long time that I knew it would mean so much and to the full team as well, but I did a really good job of staying in the present and that was the main difference.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Worth around £340,000, the win lifted Syme into the top 20 in the Race to Dubai Rankings, meaning he's put himself in the mix for a PGA Tour card for next season, while he also jumped nearly 120 spots to 145th in the Official World Golf Ranking. 'Obviously it opens up a few more doors for me as well and what lies ahead is super-exciting for me as we've got some amazing tournaments still to play this year,' he said of a schedule, of course, that will include a home appearance in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club next month. 'Look, it is all amazing, but it's also about trying to enjoy the moment as well. I'm going to really try and enjoy this rather than thinking too far ahead.' Connor Syme and his caddie Ryan McGuigan celebrate after the Scot landed a breakthrough win on the DP World Tour on Sunday |McGuigan, who previously caddied for Stephen Gallacher and Richie Ramsay as well as Belgian Thomas Detry, has been on Syme's bag since October 2020 and, like his boss, lives in Dundee. 'He was really, really calm,' said McGuigan of how Syme handled the pressure of Sunday's closing circuit. 'I think he's probably just learned a bit, as all the guys do, from past disappointments. When things haven't gone his way, I think he has probably tried too hard or maybe when he's been in the final groups, he's felt he had to do something different to get over the line instead of just playing his own game. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I think he was so focused last week on playing his own game and, especially on Sunday, not paying any attention to what anyone else was doing and, if he trusted his own game, it would be good enough to get the result he was looking for. 'Everyone's journey is different. For some, the first win comes really quickly whereas someone like Richard Bland, for example, had to wait a long time before winning and certainly winning breeds winning. It's about realising that you don't necessarily have to do anything remarkable; it's just doing the simple things well and that composure Connor showed over the weekend can only help him moving forward. 'I love working for him. We've developed a real close working relationship. We also live in the same city and we have a lot of mutual friends through golf and spend a bit of time together as well when we are not at work.
Daily Record
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
I'm a Rangers trialist turned European Tour winning golfer who ditched football because my dad bribed me
Dumfries star Conor Syme won his first DP Tour title after winning the KLM Open in the Netherlands last weekend Scottish golfer Connor Syme has joked that he had to be bribed to get into the putting game after having trials at Rangers as a kid. The Dumfries star - who won the KLM Open on Sunday to pick up his first DP World Tour title - was also involved in the youth-set up at Queen of the South before he was eventually persuaded to switch sports to golf. Syme turned professional in 2017 after enjoying great success as an amateur, winning the 2016 Australian Amateur Championship and picking up a medal in the 2014 Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcaw. And the 29-year-old - who is coached by his father Stuart - a former Scotland, GB and Ireland star - has revealed just how his transition from football into the famous old sport came about. Speaking to the DP World Tour, he said: "I think I was much more into football when I was younger to be honest. "I did have trials for Rangers though. But I think from what my dad and my whole family were really good at, like my dad obviously being a golfer, I was never forced into doing it. And I think that's why I am even doing it (golf) now. "I wanted to. I found it by myself. I was playing football for Queen of the South at time in Dumfries where I grew up. "We were right down at the bottom of Scotland and we'd be playing teams like Elgin that's like a six hour drive but you'd meet halfway and you'd only get half an hour (on the pitch), and I was lile 'oh this is brutal'. "Eventually I just fell in love with golf and my dad kinda coached me from there and got me into it. "He did have to bribe me at the start though. I remember playing the at the Scottish Under 14s and it still wasn't my love at that point. "But he was like 'right son if I get you this Black Series Odyssey putter, would you go and play? "I was like right. fine, I'll go and play if you get me that putter." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
