Hill’s triumph makes it two success stories on bounce for Scottish golf
Talk about a day for Scottish golf that had some real ‘Bounce’ in it. As Bob Macintyre, his Bounce Sport stablemate was shooting up the leaderboard in the Open Championship, Calum Hill was tasting victory on the Challenge Tour in Austria.
Boosted by a strong finish on his debut in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open the previous weekend, the 24-year-old claimed a second success on the European Tour’s feeder circuit with a four-shot victory in the Euram Bank Open.
Hill, who won the Northern Ireland Open at Galgorm Castle last season, carded just three bogeys in 72 holes, signing off with a bogey-free 66 at Golf Club Adamstal for an 18-under-par 262 total.
The win earned him €20,600 and also lifted the Gleneagles-attached player into the top
15 in the Order of Merit along with Connor Syme, who won the Turkish Airlines Challenge earlier in the year.
Another Scot, Ewen Ferguson, closed with a 64 to finish joint-second with Portugal’s José-filipe Lima, but, after staying composed as his three-shot overnight lead disappeared following a fast start by Englishman Matt Ford, it was job done for Hill as he rounded off a polished performance with four birdies.
“I’ve been saying it to my coach, management team and parents that I’ve felt like my game was in a nice position, but I haven’t been managing it particularly well,” said the Kirkcaldy-born player who now lives near Kinross.
“I wasn’t missing in the correct spot if I was missing or my short game wasn’t tight enough to get up and down all the time, so I was making quite a few errors that were a little uncharacteristic, so my scoring was quite poor.
“There were little glimpses of it coming together with a few low scores, but I’ve tightened it up in the last couple of weeks and I’m scoring a lot better.
“I’m very happy with how the day and the week has gone. It’s fantastic to get another win and not only secure next year but it will hopefully push me forward to finishing in the top 15.”
In the amateur ranks, host club member Katy Alexander and Ayr Belleisle’s Ruben Lindsay won the Scottish Girls and Boys’ titles respectively at Blairgowrie. Alexander, left, claimed her victory on the Rosemount Course at the Perthshire venue, carding two birdies and 14 pars to beat Loretto School’s Eilidh Henderson 3&2 in the final. “It feels really good to get the win and just makes it even better that it’s my home course,” she said.
Backing up his victory in the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Trophy last month, Lindsay beat Longniddry’s Cameron Gallacher on the last green on the Lansdowne Course in the boys’ final, which produced an eagle and nine birdies.
“I’m glad all of the hard graft has finally paid off. It feels really good to get the win,” Lindsay told Scottish Golf afterwards. “I knew I could make birdies and my game was good enough, all I had to do was focus on each shot at a time and stay patient.”