Calum

Hill

The 26-year-old Hill, No. 98 in the world rankings, kicked off his current streak with a T-4 on home soil at the Hero Open in July and secured his first career the following week in come-from-behind fashion: Hill started the final round three shots behind 54-hole leader Rasmus Hojgaard and carded a 5-under 67 at London Golf Club to finish out front at 16-under 272, one stroke clear of Frenchman Alexander Levy. Last week in Switzerland, he birdied four of his last five holes to finish with a 4-under 66 at Crans-sur-Sierre GC to finish four strokes behind winner Hojgaard. Hill leads the ET in scoring with a 68.97 scoring average. He’s also sixth in birdies per round (4.62), 10th in Strokes Gained: Total (1.52) and 12th in SG: Putting ().73). On the season, he’s made 14 cuts in 19 starts with five other top 10s including a T-3 at the Kenya Savannah Classic in March. This week marks Hill’s tournament debut at the Italian Open, which is being held at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome -- site of the 2023 Ryder Cup.

The 26-year-old Scotsman, No. 92 in the world rankings, started the day three shots behind 54-hole leader Rasmus Hojgaard and carded a final-round, 5-under 67 at London Golf Club to finish at top of the leaderboard at 16-under 272, one stroke clear of Frenchman Alexander Levy. “Really proud of what I managed to do,” he said Sunday. “I managed to manage my emotions pretty well and stay in each shot and not get ahead of myself. I definitely felt the pressure but managed to keep control of it. … This is the start and hopefully I can keep pushing on from here and see where I can take it.” Hill had built some momentum the week prior at the Hero Open, where he notched a T-4 finish on home soil. His victory in England also marked the sixth top-10 result this season for Hill, who’s made 12 cuts in 18 starts this season with a podium finish at the Kenya Savannah Classic (T-3), another T-4 at the Saudi International in February and a pair of T-8 results (Magical Kenya Open, Betfred British Masters). Hill, who is listed as playing this week in the D+D Real Czech Masters, played college golf at Western New Mexico and won three times on the Challenge Tour including twice in 2019.

The 26-year-old Scotsman opened with two bogey-free rounds including a 9-under 63 in the first round. Hill looks to finish the European Tour’s U.K. swing on a high note at this week’s Cazoo Classic, a new European Tour event being held at London Golf Club. His finish in Scotland marked the fifth top-10 result this season for Hill, who is chasing his first career European Tour victory. It appears he’s closing in: On the season, he’s made 12 cuts in 17 starts with a podium finish at the Kenya Savannah Classic, where he finished T-3, another T-4 at the Saudi International in February and a pair of T-8 results (Magical Kenya Open, Betfred British Masters). Hill, who played college golf at Western New Mexico, won three times on the Challenge Tour including twice in 2019.

The 26-year-old shot four straight subpar rounds at The Belfry to finish T-8 at 10 under at the British Masters, the first of three events in the qualifying series based on Race to Dubai points, and stands T-8 in the series. Hill has five finishes inside the top 12 this season, including a T-3 at the Kenya Savannah Classic in March. He also boasts the best scoring average of any player on tour with 20 or more recorded rounds this season, at 68.34 to the tour average of 70.55. A three-time winner on the Challenge Tour, he won his most recent title in Denmark at HimmerLand Resort in 2019. Hill had just four bogeys over 72 holes and finished 22 under at 266 to beat Sweden’s Joel Sjoholm by a shot.

The 26-year-old Hill, now in his second full season on the European Tour, comes into England off a mostly successful Spanish swing where he made two of three cuts in Spain, most recently finishing T-12 at the Canary Islands Championship last week. He’s made six cuts in eight starts and already has three top-10 results in 2021, including a T-3 at the Kenya Savannah Classic and T-4 at the Saudi International. He also finished T-8 at the Kenya Open. A three-time winner on the Challenge Tour, Hill had two top 10s and four top-20 finishes in 2020 (14-for-21). This week marks his second start in the British Masters. Hill finished T-26 last year at Close House.

Starting the day with the lead, the Scotsman made an early bogey at the second hole, but caught fire midway through the front nine, circling the sixth, seventh and eighth after making an eagle-3 at the fifth. His dominance over the field was threatened by dropped shots at the tenth and 13th, but he reasserted his control with back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th. The tournament was notable for a) being played in the current climate, and b) witnessing the first round disqualification of 14 players who played from the wrong tee on a par-3. Hill, who studied at Western New Mexico, has a girlfriend who resides in Arizona and he traveled there shortly before lockdown. A three-time winner on the Challenge Tour he has two top 20s from seven 2020 starts on the European Tour and is 110th on the Race to Dubai.

Hill was promoted to the top level after finishing second on the Challenge Tour last season, winning twice. The Scottish youngster kicked off with T13 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and T17 at the Mauritius Open in December but has rather struggled since with a run of 68-MC-MC-54-MC. It’s also worth noting that he posted T47 on the PGA TOUR’s Mayakoba Golf Classic and returned to the United States in mid-March to contest the Outlaw Tour’s Western Skies Classic in Arizona, finishing T16. That plants a seed that he could be worth a look as a value option if getting future starts in the U.S. For now though, Europe is his home and Hill’s talent suggests we keep a close watch on him when results start to improve again.

The fast-rising Scot made a swift start, circling 2, 5, 6 and 7 (with a bogey at 3), then he also finished at pace, ticking 17 and 18 after a mistake at 16, but he was becalmed in-between and it cost him the sole lead. However, he was talking a confident game afterward. “It was nice to have a couple of birdies to finish off and sneak back into a tie for the lead,” he said. “Happy with how it finished off. I hit a lot of nice shots to start off the back nine until the par five but couldn’t get my putts, needed to hit it six inches harder on every hole. 8-under might do it tomorrow. He has only twice found himself in this position, on the Challenge Tour this year. Once he was tied, once leading on his own; both times he converted the win.

That’s currently a shot ahead of South African Brandon Stone and two clear of Sihwan Kim. The 25-year-old from Scotland was 4-under overnight and raced to 9-under with five birdies (10, 12, 13, 14 and 16) in his first seven holes today, turning in 31. He did drop just his second shot of the week coming home (No. 6) bit hit four birdies either side (2, 3, 7 and 9), his walk-off par breaker setting the new target after Stone had earlier come in with 11-under. Hill finished second on the Challenge Tour last season after two wins and, new card in hand, opened his rookie campaign on the European Tour with T13 at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa. He’ll carry plenty of confidence going into the weekend.

The young Scot just finished up his Challenge Tour season, ending 2nd in the Road to Mallorca. He won twice and has now won three times since turning pro. Hill’s only experience on the PGA TOUR was a 61st-place finish at the 2018 U.S. Open. He was T14 at the midpoint of that event. He’s also finished top 30 in each of his last three starts on the European Tour. Gamers should give him a look when filling out weekly rosters as he provides a lot of value in formats like DFS.