Connor Syme thought he might be on holiday in Greece with girlfriend Alanis by now, but his dream to play in the 150th Open just down the road from home is still alive.
The 26-year-old was born in Fife, lives in Dundee and is based out of Drumoig. Playing his third Open at the Home of Golf would obviously be the best of all, but there’s a long weekend to negotiate first.
Thought his chance had gone
💬 “It’s just an honour to play in front of a Scottish crowd.”
⛳️ Solid day at the @Renaissancegc office for 🏴🏌🏻♂️@connor_syme who’s -1 after two rounds at a windy @ScottishOpen. Several big names have toiled. He’ll make the cut ✂️ pic.twitter.com/fe8WZR94pd
— Kenny Crawford (@KennyCrawford_) July 8, 2022
Connor opted not to go to Final Qualifying – where he’d been successful in 2017 and 2019 – to focus on DP World Tour events. He thought his chance had gone and the holiday he’d promised Alanis was going to be due these next two weeks.
But he managed to get an 11th hour invitation to play in the Genesis Scottish Open. A one-under 69 on Friday got him to the weekend at The Renaissance.
That means one of the three spots available to unqualified finishers into the 150th Open is still possible, although it’s definitely going to be a hard ask.
“It would be amazing,” he said. “I didn’t do qualifying this year and I just tried to focus on the tournaments I knew I was in.
“I was upset last week that I thought the opportunity might have gone and I wouldn’t be playing. I’d promised Alanis a week away but hadn’t booked anything – I just like to book what is as expensive as possible!
“But I got the late call-up and it’s great to stay for the weekend.
“You can put too much on it. There are just three qualifying spots and this is an amazing field.
“If I’m up that end of the leaderboard, I’m playing great anyway, and if that’s the reward, that’s pretty cool. But there’s a long way to go so I’m just looking forward to the weekend.”
Battles through testing conditions
Welcome back home. We're sure these three are really going to enjoy this week 🏴🏴🏴@DavidLawGolf, @connor_syme and @MarcWarrenGolf will join the 2022 #GenesisScottishOpen field 😁 #RolexSeries | #FedExCup pic.twitter.com/Op1bgEsEe3
— Genesis Scottish Open (@ScottishOpen) July 4, 2022
This knife-edge part of the battles for a player like Connor, and he’s used to it.
“Most of my pro career’s been a bit like that anyway,” he said. “I was hoping here this year might be different, the first year I wouldn’t have to rely on anything.
“We all send our emails in, obviously, to the people in charge. The guys getting back to me were sounding promising, but then you look at the list and see there’s only one spot left. But it worked out great for us, they invited three Scots so that’s awesome.”
Conditions made it tough, and he needed a curling 25-foot putt on the last green to stay at one-under.
“You’d like to think you’d freewheel because it’s a bonus to be playing, but actually not. It was hard (Thursday) and a lot of the tees have been moved up today.
“We had it very difficult both days and it’s strange, we’re so used to playing it you don’t know what’s a good score. Any hole you can make bogey or double bogey in a heartbeat and it’s about keeping those numbers off the card.
“I love the tournament and the Renaissance has just got so much better every year. I just love links golf, it’s so different. Five irons going only about 140 yesterday, that’s the challenge.”
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