Calum Hill still in hunt for US Open berth at Torrey Pines

Calum Hill is in with a chance of securing a second US Open appearance through the European Tour’s mini-order of merit for the season’s third major at Torrey Pines the week after next.

Calum Hill during the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

Due to the traditional qualifying events not taking place this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, 10 spots are up for grabs on the California coast through three tournaments on the European Tour.

The Betfred British Masters and Made in HimmerLand have already taken place, with the final event being this week’s Porsche European Open in Hamburg.

That has been reduced to 54 holes instead of 72 and is being held from Friday to Monday because the German government put the United Kingdom on its travel ‘red list’ due to the pandemic.

Three of the US Open spots already looked to have been secured by England’s Richard Bland, Italian Guido Migliozzi and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.

Bland tops the mini-order of merit with 726.66 points after winning the British Masters at The Belfry then finishing joint-third behind Wiesberger in the Made in HimmerLand in Denmark.

Migliozzi is next on 694 points after finishing runner-up in both the counting events so far, with Wiesberger third on 486.25 after he made a successful defence of the title in Denmark.

Aa things stand, Adrian Meronk, Jordan Smith, Dave Coupland, Mikko Korhonen, Jason Scrivener, Andy Sullivan and Alexander Bjork are the other players in the qualifying spots.

But, mainly thanks to his top-10 finish in the British Masters, Hill sits 15th and a strong display in Hamburg can get the job done as he bids to repeat his success in qualifying for the 2018 edition at Shinnecock Hills.

On that occasion, Hill came all the way through from local qualifying to make the cut on his major debut.

Bob MacIntyre sits 14th on the mini-order of merit, but he is already exempt through being in the top 60 in the world.

On the Tartan Tour, meanwhile, Ross Cameron is the defending champion in the Northern Open, which takes place at Portlethen over the next two days.

Peterhead man Cameron, who landed his title triumph at Spey Valley in Aviemore last year, faces a stiff task in his bid to repeat the feat in a field that includes other former winners in Alastair Forsyth, Paul O’Hara and Greig Hutcheon.

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