In-form Calum Hill climbs again on Challenge Tour rankings

Calum Hill cemented his position in the top ten in the Challenge Tour rankings after backing up a win in Austria a fortnight ago with another strong performance on the second-tier circuit.
Calum Hill finished joint third with a 12-under-par total in the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge. Picture: SNS.Calum Hill finished joint third with a 12-under-par total in the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge. Picture: SNS.
Calum Hill finished joint third with a 12-under-par total in the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge. Picture: SNS.

Taking up where he left off when landing the Euram Bank Open, the 24-year-old carded rounds of 69-71-66-70 for a 12-under-par total in the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge.

That earned him a third spot behind José-Filipe Lima after the Portuguese player closed with a 66 as he came from five strokes back at the start of the day to land his first success on the circuit in more than three years.

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Hill, who is attached to Gleneagles Hotel, is now up to seventh in the rankings, a spot behind fellow Scot Connor Syme in the battle to secure 15 cards on the European Tour next season. In his last two events, Hill is a combined 30-under-par, having given himself a timely confidence boost when closing with a 66 to finish in the top 30 on his debut in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club last month.

l American Craig Davis won the Senior Amateur Championship at his first attempt at North Berwick, beating Gene Elliott at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off after they had both finished on nine-under-par 207 for the 54 holes.

Having fired three rounds of 69, Davis, a 57-year-old software engineer from Chula Vista near San Diego, sank the winning putt with a 40-year-old PGA Tommy Armour putter he was advised to buy by his teaching professional when he was 16. ​

Matthew Sughrue, who led overnight, slipped to a share of tenth place with a final-round 75.