Syme is seeking that extra one per cent to end his season on a high
For Connor Syme, his DP World Tour season could easily be summed up as “everything but the win”.
Syme is inside the top 30 on the Race to Dubai, and comfortably heading for his best year as a pro. But the icing on the cake would be joining the winners’ circle.
The Drumoig golfer was second in both the Cazoo Open in Wales and the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, while he was also third at the British Masters at The Belfry inmay.
So the 27-year-old from Kirkcaldy is determined to keep knocking on the door until it eventually opens.
“You can’t beat the buzz of being in contention,” he told The Sunday Post.
“It’s such a great feeling – a mix of nervous energy and excitement you can’t really recreate anywhere.
“Finishing in second gives you a real hunger. You try to work out the wee small things that made it a good week, and the 1% that you could have done differently.
“The two times I finished second – Callum Shinkwin in Wales and Ewen Ferguson in Northern Ireland – both the winners played brilliantly, and I couldn’t put much pressure on.
“My push maybe came too late. Maybe if I had played the front nine on those Sundays a bit better, I would have stood more of a chance.
“But I’m always learning, and I think all these experiences will help push me over the line.”
If Syme could get on to the top of the podium, he would become the latest Scottish winner on Tour, and follow in the footsteps of players he has competed against for years in Ewen Ferguson, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest and Bob Macintyre.
He admits that it is hard not to be inspired to try to copy his mates.
“We’ve had such a flurry of winners, especially when Grant and Calum won in successive weeks last year,” he said.
“It does push you on and motivate you, especially when it is your friends. I realise that my time will come.
“But at the same time, I have to work on what makes me good, because i’ m in my own lane doing my own thing.
“It has been a really good year for me, but I’m hungry for more. It’s exciting because it feels like we’re only in the middle of it.”
After finishing 68th following a disappointing Sunday at last week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Syme decided not to play in the Italian Open, instead getting in some useful practice at home.
So he hopes that it will be full steam ahead for the remainder of the DP World Tour schedule, starting at the Open de France at Le Golf National on Thursday.
However, one event he certainly has an eye on is the Dunhill Links the week after, and the chance to play Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and, most especially, St Andrews.
Syme did not make it to The Old Course for the 150th Open in July, but it’s a place he absolutely loves.
“I’m really lucky to be a member of St Andrews, and I just love the Old Course,” he said.
“I feel lucky every time I step on the course, and it’s just fun to play.
With it being by the coast, two days are never the same.
“You could make it totally different every time you play it, but that’s what makes it so special.
“You can also get some horrible weather. But, you know what? That’s St Andrews, and that’s links golf.
“But there really is nothing better than walking up 18 as you are finishing in the middle of town.
“Watching The Open, some of the pin positions they had were crazy, and the course was so firm.
“But even though the course is so old, it showed that it still stands up to modern golf because the scores were not insanely low.”