Connor Syme's dad glad he gave up on football dream despite Rangers trial - but not because he said so

Stuart Syme suspected his son, Connor, wasn’t destined for a professional career in football despite having a trial at Rangers but, at the same time, didn’t feel he could be the person to tell him that. “Absolutely not,” he admitted, laughing. “I had to wait on the sidelines until somebody else told him it.”

Even then, Connor continued to kick a ball around for a while in Queen of the South colours, which was down to the family being based in Dumfries at that time in his life, and he joked in a DP World Tour podcast earlier this year that he had to be bribed by his dad to play in golf tournaments as a young teenager.

Golf eventually got a grip, though, and, guided by his dad throughout his career but also helped by numerous other people on and off the course, the 29-year-old can now proudly say he’s a DP World Tour winner after producing a polished performance to land the KLM Open in the Netherlands last weekend.

Stuart and Connor Syme pictured during Connor’s preparation for the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool in 2023 | Contributed

“Good on him for finally proving to himself what we had all suspected that he was good enough to win and what a brilliant way to win as well,” Syme snr, a PGA professional who owns and runs Drumoig Golf Centre in Fife, told Scotland on Sunday of his boy making the big breakthrough in his 182nd start on the main tour after being unable to convert 54-hole leads on three previous occasions. “He didn’t back into the win. He won it from Saturday morning the way he conducted himself and played over the weekend was fantastic.

“I think what he said in one of his interviews last weekend was really telling. He said that he felt ready after having other opportunities and had a different feeling on this occasion. I think all the experiences had been needed to develop the person and then the golfer who looked really calm and ready to deliver over the weekend the way he did.”

In landing his two-shot success at The International in Amsterdam, Syme joined fellow Scots David Law, Bob MacIntyre, Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson and Calum Hill in landing maiden title triumphs on the DP World Tour over the last five years or so.

“I just had a conversation with Connor when I was back getting my lunch and evidence is a word I use a lot with him,” added Syme, who has been perfectly happy to see Jamie Gough, the Fife-based brother of former Rangers and Scotland defender Richard, provide a “set of eyes” out on tour while he’s overseeing a successful business at home.

“I’ll ask him ‘what’s your evidence you can do this or hit certain shots?’ And this win is good validation and evidence for us, all the people who help him, now that it works. The way we are all giving him our snippets of information has come through for him and helped in a small way because, ultimately, he is the man who hits the shots.”

Connor Syme shows off the trophy after winning the 105th edition of the KLM Open at The International in Amsterdam last weekend | Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

If he can build on this success, Syme might well be joining MacIntyre in hitting shots on the PGA Tour next season and, though that might not have been part of the plan at the outset, credit to his dad for having belief that he could indeed become a champion at the highest level.

“When he was announced on the tee at events like the Scottish Under-14s, I remember asking how he’d enjoyed it and he said ‘well, it was alright’,” recalled Syme snr, a good player himself back in the day flying the flag for Ladybank before heading down the PGA route. “He’d shot 96 and was 24 shots behind. But the fact he’d quite enjoyed it left me thinking ‘right, I’ve got him a wee bit’. That was around 12 or 13 and then the football finished a wee bit after that and he became dedicated to it.

“I got an A4 bit of paper and came up with a plan, drawing a diagonal line across it. I thought he could get on tour in ten years and he did it in eight. We knew there would be speedbumps. Winning the Scottish Boys or losing in the first round, none of it mattered because we were going to give ourselves ten years to try and get him on tour because I thought he was good enough to get there.”

Along with his other DP World Tour players, Syme now has a short break before returning to action in the Italian Open and, earlier this week, he was in Manchester along with his wife, Alanis, to see Robbie Williams, even getting their photograph taken backstage with the mega pop star.

Exciting to see what this can ‘propel him’

“Yeah, hopefully,” replied his dad to being asked if last weekend can be a springboard. “That first win is often the hardest and now that he’s got that, without putting any predictions out there, all I will say is that it is going to be very interesting to see where this could propel him to.

“He’s now got the evidence. Is said on a call to him ‘son, you’ve got a beautiful trophy, one that has been played on 105 occasions and is the fifth oldest Open in the world and you won it emphatically. It wasn’t a case of him shooting three or four under on a crazy Sunday and the leader fell away. He won it and now has a trophy that has Seve’s name on it and lots of other big names. He was like ‘yeah, yeah, I know dad - it’s brilliant, isn’t it?’ I think that is what has elevated this win a little bit more.

“You’ve seen what Bob has done. You’ve seen what Foxy (recent double PGA Tour winner Ryan Fox) has done as well. These were guys that Connor was playing with a few years ago and knows he can compete with. Yes, they’ve set the bar high, but he’s got to look at them and think ‘okay, I’ve now done it so, therefore, the next bit could be achievable as well’.”