Calum Hill ready to again in bid to secure Open spot after 'weird week' in Denmark

“It’s raining,” groaned Calum Hill in a joking tone as a heavy shower hit The Renaissance Club, but that certainly didn’t dampen his enthusiasm at the start of GenesisScottish Open week.

“It’s the biggest one of the year I would imagine for all of the Scots, it certainly is for me,” said Hill, who is among eight home players teeing up in the $9 million Rolex Series event on Scotland’s Golf Coast. “It’s the one you want to play the best at and have the best result at.”

Eight of the world’s top ten are in the field, giving the likes of Hill a rare chance to go head-to-head with the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.

“It’s good,” added Hill, who attended the event as a spectator in its spell at Loch Lomond, of that chance alone being something to get excited about. “I’m not just saying what everyone else says, but it’s what you play for. That’s what you aim for. To play in fields like this and, hopefully, it is preparation for what is to come down the road.”

Calum Hill is hoping a strong performance in this week's Genesis Scottish Open can secure a spot in the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images.

In an immediate sense, Hill is hoping to be taking the M6 early next week to tee up in the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool. A last-hole birdie from Englishman Oliver Wilson in the recent Betfred British Masters at The Belfry denied the Scot a spot in the season’s final major through The Open Qualifying Series.

Hill then missed the cut when another three spots were on offer in the Made in HimmerLand event in Denmark last week, but he’ shaken that display off and is ready to go again in this week’s battle for the last three berths in the Hoylake line up.

“It was just a weird week and I’ve written it off,” he said of his early exit in Farso, where Marc Warren stamped his Open ticket, taking the Scottish contingent in the Claret Jug event to seven as he joined Bob MacIntyre, Richie Ramsay, Ewen Ferguson, Connor Syme, Michael Stewart and Graeme Robertson in heading for Merseyside.

“I’d much rather it happened last week than this week. It is out of the way and it’s go again this week. The first goal is obviously to have a good enough week to get a spot at The Open. The second one behind that is to have a chance to win it. That’s been the main goal for the last few weeks and I just keep at it and see how it goes.

"The game feels good and I am looking forward to a good week. The ideal scenario is you win everything. I’d imagine it’ll be similar to Denmark this week where there will be a lot of names that are already in there, so you won’t need to be finishing second to get a spot.”

After being taken apart in soft and benign conditions when it first staged the event in 2019, Xander Schauffele’s winning total in a tougher test 12 months ago was seven under par.

“It’s definitely getting better and I've heard there are few changes this week with bunkers and things that I didn’t see last year,” said Hill of sitting out the 2022 edition as he tried to shake off a nerve problem.