Scottish golfer opens up on making $10m Dubai event after 'bad publicity look'
Calum Hill heading into DP World Tour Championship with spring in step after going back to basics
Calum Hill is excited to be having a first proper crack at the DP World Tour Championship after a decision to go back to basics got his season on track again following a disqualification on Scottish soil that he admits was “maybe not the best look for myself”.
The recently-turned 31-year-old is among five Scots teeing up in the DP World Tour’s season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where a $10 million prize pot is up for grabs on the Earth Course and the battle for ten PGA Tour cards will also be decided over the next four days.
On the driveway up to the clubhouse, all 50 players in the field have been recognised by individual banners, with Bob MacIntyre, who sits fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings, closest to the top among the Scots and Hill next highest in 37th position.
“It’s really my first time having a go at it,” Hill told The Scotsman in the UAE. “In 2021, when I came here I was struggling with injury and had to withdraw. I was then injured in 2022 and then the last two years I was first or second reserve. So I was here but not playing. So it’s nice to be playing in it.”
On the back of landing a second DP World Tour title triumph in the Joburg Open in March, the Crook of Devon-based player had his sights set on one of those PGA Tour cards but now reckons he needs to finish first or second this week to achieve that goal this season.
Missing seven cuts in a row in the middle of the year came out of the blue after he’d finished joint-third in the Italian Open and it was through sheer frustration that Hill ended up being disqualified in the Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire in August.
“Nexo was tricky,” he admitted, speaking about what happened for the first time. “I got so frustrated with myself at putting myself in the position I was in. I was struggling, but I still had a chance to make the cut. I remember that hole. I needed a putt to go in and it missed and that left me needing an albatross at the next hole, which was impossible.
‘It was maybe not the best look for myself’
“I had a two-footer on the way back and it missed the hole and hit my shoe. I was like ‘enough is enough’ as it didn’t make any difference whether it had gone in the hole or not. So I just grabbed it as I didn’t want to mess around as Jacob Skov Olesen was in my group and he was playing quite nicely so I didn’t want to call a ref over and check what the rule was but, of course, it was a disqualification.
“Maybe for onlookers and publicity, it was maybe not the best look for myself. But the way my headspace was, the result was the same in what was just a frustrating week in what was a frustrating period for me. To come out the other side of all that and have a lot more momentum and progress after that the last two months has been really nice.”
Playing with Rory McIlroy in the third round, Hill finished joint-17th in last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which came on the back of a top-ten finish in the Open de Espana and a top-25 effort in the Genesis Championship in Korea.
“I really struggled in the middle part of the season and that was disappointing as I was doing a lot of work and got nothing from it,” he said. “After Wentworth, I had a sitdown with the people who help me and I also spoke to Grant [Forrest]. Without taking anything away from all the information I’ve gained over the years from different coaches, I tried to remove a lot of it and gone back to what got me out here in the first place.
“Take swing feels, for example. Before I came on the DP World Tour, I didn’t have a coach and I just used the Explanar (a training aid) a lot. I’ve gone back on the hoop again as it helps me with a lot of the feels. What I’ve found recently is that I’ve got a lot into the golf swing in terms of the position but I’ve lost a lot of feel. So, when you go out and play and you are hitting shots from different lies, your timing needs to be there and rhythm needs to be there more than per say the actual position.
“I’d be hitting shots and think the swing looked good in terms of the position of the club but I’d be struggling on the course. So right now it might not be picture perfect but my timing and rhythm is a lot better. That’s how I engrained my moves in the beginning, so going back to it has felt really comfortable. It has helped my iron play become a lot sharper and I now know what my misses are going to be and how they have happened.
“It’s similar with my putting. I’ve removed a few things and added a few things I used to do. It’s all added up to my game having a bit more of a flow again, which is good. It’s helped me achieve a bit more consistency and a bit more good stuff towards the end of the season, which has helped me get here.”
Heading into this week, Marco Penge, Adrien Saddier, John Parry, Alex Noren, Laurie Canter, Haotong Li, Dan Brown, Keita Nakajima and Jordan Smith are the players in the PGA Tour card-winning spots, with a fair bit of other traffic standing in Hill’s way in his bid to take the same route as MacIntyre two years ago.
‘We’ve got a baby boy on way in April’
“That was my goal at the start of the season,” he confessed. “I think I probably need a first or second this week to achieve it. But, if that doesn’t materialise, then it’s been a solid season and you take what you have learned this year and apply it to next year.”
It’s already shaping up to be an exciting 2026 for Hill and his wife, Miranda. “We’ve got a baby - a boy - on the way in April,” he reported. “I found out on the Friday morning before I teed off at The Belfry (in the Betfred British Masters). That was very exciting and Miranda had her first scan a month or so ago.”
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