Calum Hill eyes big week in Dubai after feeling 'usless and completely burnt out'
Scot needs big week in DP World Tour Championship to secure a coveted PGA Tour card
Calum Hill felt “useless” and “completely burnt out” when he turned up in Madrid a few weeks ago, so he decided to stop pushing himself to the limit in a bid to secure a PGA Tour card.
But, after spending some quality time at his home in the US with wife Miranda and their young son Josh coupled with a confidence-boosting 64 in his most recent outing, the Scot is ready to give it one final big push in that season-long mission this week.
Sitting 31st in the Race to Dubai Ranking, Hill reckons he probably needs to finish first or second in the $10 million DP World Tour Championship, the season-ending tournament on the DP World Tour, to secure one of ten cards up for grabs on the PGA Tour in 2027.
“My goal for the last couple of years has been to get one of those cards,” the two-time winner on the circuit told The Scotsman at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai on the eve of the fifth and final Rolex Series tournament of the year. “Not that I don't like playing here because it's a great job, but it just would suit me a lot playing on the PGA Tour due to now living in the US.
“I know what it requires - probably first or second would definitely do it but I don't know if third would be enough - so the goal is to have as good a week as I can and, hopefully, it's just enough.”
Hill had been in one of the coveted card spots after a strong opening half to the year, which included back-to-back second-placed finishes in the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship and Qatar Masters.
Race to Dubai leader Eugenio Chacarra is now occupying one of those spots, with Hill having slipped down the points list after deciding to skip both the DP World India Championship and the Genesis Championship in Korea.
“Yeah, it kind of felt like when I got to Madrid (for the Open de Espana the week after a home gig in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship) that I was just completely burnt out and useless,” he admitted. “So it was actually really nice to have three weeks at home with the family, reset a bit and get a bit of energy back for these two weeks.”
In last week’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, the first of two big-money Play-Offs events, the 32-year-old opened with a 78 at Yas Links to find himself on the back foot for a couple of days before signing off with a 64.
“It was nice to have them going the right way,” he admitted, smiling. “So, I've played nicely over the weekend, played nicely in practice, I'm going to go play nine holes more now and be done and ready to go.”
Hill has qualified for the season finale in the UAE for the third time after transforming his game during a spell at Western New Mexico University, where he had a spell as assistant golf coach before deciding to turn professional just under a decade ago.
“If you went back to when I finished university in 2016 and said I would be out here playing, I would definitely have pinched myself,”he said. “It’s great that my consistency is at a level where I am here again. It's just that it's hard not to want more, isn't it?”
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