Calum Hill aims to match Bob MacIntyre's 'acceleration' up world rankings

Calum Hill is hoping to keep his foot on the pedal following the best performance of his career as he bids to emulate fellow Scot Bob MacIntyre by securing a fast track into the world’s top 50.

Calum Hill during the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

MacIntyre is preparing for a big run of events in the US, including two WGCs and a potential Masters debut, after the 24-year-old from Oban achieved that feat in just 50 appearances on the European Tour.

Hill has played just over half that number of top-tier tournaments, but the 26-year-old climbed to 139th in the world rankings on the back of a tie for fourth behind world No 1 Dustin Johnson in the recent Saudi International.

The three-time Challenge Tour winner is currently in the US visiting his American girlfriend, Miranda, but he has his sights set on first joining both MacIntyre and Martin Laird in the top 100 as quickly as possible then continue to kick on from there.

“Obviously that’s the goal, to accelerate at the pace of the likes of Bob and a couple of other guys, Victor [Perez] being another one,” said Hill on a video call from Arizona.

“You hope to get on a run where you have continuous good performances and shoot up the rankings as that opens other doors.”

The Fifer used a spell at Western New Mexico University to transform his game as an amateur before landing wins in the San Juan Open and Arizona Open after turning professional.

Partly due to his girlfriend, he makes no secret of the fact that he hopes to be playing on the PGA Tour one day, though not exclusively.

“For everyone aspiring to be as good as they can be, that’s the end goal and I’d like to achieve it as quickly as possible,” he said of holding a card for the US circuit.

“I’d like to be a member of both tours to have that freedom of scheduling where you could play on the PGA Tour Florida Swing coming up and then come back over for the Rolex Series events and a nice summer schedule in Europe.”

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