'I'm a much better golfer now' - Calum Hill on burying sore Scottish Open exit

Calum Hill is heading into the weekend in the Genesis Scottish Open feeling that he’s transformed his game since suffering a sickening early exit at The Renaissance Club a year ago.

The Fife-born player opened with a 65 in the 2025 edition to sit just one shot off the lead at the end of the first day only to then miss the cut following a dismal 77 in the second circuit.

It was mission accomplished on this occasion as far as his first target of making amends for that bitter disappointment was concerned after following a 67 on Thursday with a 69 to reach the halfway stage on four under par.

Calum Hill lines up a putt during the second round of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club | Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Now Hill is hoping to kick on in the final 36 holes as he bids to secure one of three spots up for grabs in next week’s 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, with Bob MacIntyre and Jack McDonald the only Scots currently in the field.

“Not too bad,” said Hill of his second-day effort. “I kind of had a mixed day. Yesterday, I didn’t drive it very well, but hit my irons great. And today I drove it great and didn’t hit my irons too well. It’s hard to get the whole thing going, but I actually played quite nice again.

“My goal every week is to try and be under par every nine holes and try and have four-under-par rounds. If I can have two more under-par rounds here, then I will be in and about it (The Open spots), so we will see what happens.”

Hill missed seven cuts in a row around this time last year, including a disqualification in the Nexo Championship, won by Grant Forrest, for not completing a hole after deciding “enough was enough”.

Though a golden chance to land a third DP World Tour win slipped from his grasp as he lost out in a play-off in the Bahrain Championship earlier this year, the 31-year-old is back on home soil sitting as the leading Scot - 16th - in this season’s Race to Dubai Ranking.

“It’s a much better golfer standing here as opposed to the one last year,” insisted Hill, who is now living in Phoenix as a US green card holder. “Last year, I had periods where I was searching to find out how to do it well whereas right now I feel pretty competent in all aspects of my game.

“I don’t feel as if I am trying to find something. I feel like I am there and it’s just a case of will it arrive each day and can I make it as neat as possible. So, yeah, I feel much better about my game, which is a nice place to be.

“It was a really difficult time. I had a poor one here and I must have missed a load of missed cuts during the summer. The Nexo was a pain the butt. So was the British Masters, so was the Irish Open.

“It just kept going and I probably had three months where I was really struggling to put a round together. There were lots of good gold shots but just too many catastrophic ones that kept me on the wrong side of where you want to be.

“I made a few changes around Wentworth time (the BMW PGA Championship), having decided to go back to stuff that I’d done a long time ago prior to turning pro. Like all the stuff I did in college and using an Explanar (a training aid) and those kinds of things. It just feels as if I am back to how I played golf prior to turning pro.

“I think the issue when turning pro is that you try to find all these secrets that make you better. It’s just in the search of improving. But it can sometimes take you away from what got you there in the first place and I’ve just kind of regressed and gone back to what I like doing and it has helped.”