Calum Hill claims best European Tour finish behind world leader
Scotland’s Calum Hill eagled the last from 23 feet to record his best European Tour finish as Dustin Johnson cemented his world number one position with a second success in the Saudi International in three years.
Hill’s last-hole heroics at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City earned him a share of fourth spot with Dundeebased Frenchman Victor Perez as Johnson overcame a frustrating day with his putter to record a two-shot victory.
It was the 36-year-old’s first success since being crowned Masters champion in November, with his combined total in this event now being an impressive 44-under-par after finishing first-second-first on his visits to the Red Sea coast.
“It is important,” said Johnson of his win, which was secured with a closing 68 for a 15-under-total, with fellow American Tony Finau (67) and England’s Justin Rose (65) finishing in a share of second spot. “It’s definitely nice to get a win and also the first one after Augusta.”
Johnson, who had started the day one ahead of Perez, found himself tied with Finau with six holes to play after missing a string of good birdie chances. He is not the type to panic, though, and it was job done again, helped by two birdies in the closing stretch.
“I kept giving myself a lot of chances, before finally holing a nice putt on 13,” said Johnson as he savoured a 28th worldwide win, having tasted success every year since 2007. “I played solid and am excited about the rest of the year.”
Hill, whose previous best finish had been a tie for eighth in the ISPS Handa Wales Open last August, had been third reserve for the $3.5 million event at the start of the week, before grabbing his opportunity with both hands.
“Very nice way to finish, yeah,” said the 26-year-old Crook of Devon-based player of that eagle, which was worth about £115,000, about double more than his biggest previous pay-day for a top-30 finish in the 2019 Scottish Open. “I think I got the most out of my score today because there were some funky shots going on in there.”
Hill holed a long birdie putt at the 11th to move to threeunder for the day before stumbling to back-to-back bogeys.
But, helped by some calming words from Ian Woosnam’s long-time caddie, Phil ‘Wobbly’ Morbey, on his bag for the first time, the three-time Challenge Tour winner regained his composure to round off a great week’s work.
“From probably not getting in at the start of the week, I would probably have taken that, for sure,” he admitted, though, by his reckoning, it was not the best performance of his career.
“No, I’ll take the wins over this,” said Hill, “but competing in a field like this and doing well is a good achievement.”
Perez, who won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, cemented his position in the automatic Ryder Cup qualifying spots with a closing 69.
Stephen Gallacher, who had shared the lead at the halfway stage, closed with a 71 to finish in a tie for 21st on seven-under, one ahead of Bob Macintyre (71), with David Law ending up 76th on (79) on eight-over.