Scotland’s Calum Hill was soaring to his highest Tour finish thanks to a stunning eagle putt on the final hole at the Saudi International.
Hill posted a three-under par 67 to share fourth spot at 12-under par with Dundee-based Frenchman Victor Perez firing a 69 and further cementing his place in the European Ryder Cup team.
The Gleneagles-attached Hill had posted back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 when he came to the last at one-under for his round.
Hill fired a laser-like drive down the last leaving him 262-yards to the flag, and hitting 4-iron to 23-feet and brilliantly holed the putt much to the delight of ‘stand-in’ caddy Phil ‘Wobbly’ Morbey.
Last man in to the field. A top 5 finish.
A week to remember for @CalumHill_golf 👏#SaudiIntlGolf pic.twitter.com/oWgnaEd6r5
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 7, 2021
And after not getting into the event till Tuesday as ‘Wobbly’s’ regular player in Thorbjorn Olesen had to withdraw, Hill is really pinching himself.
Hill said: “After the uncertainty at the start of the week and to finish the way I have is pretty good.
“I mean, from probably not playing to getting in, I’d take that at tee off on Thursday.
“I got the most out of my score today. There were some funky shots going on there.
“I’ve had three wins on the Challenge Tour, so I’ll take the wins over this but competing with the likes of the players in the field this week, and doing pretty well, is obviously a good achievement”.
Hill’s share of fourth is easily his highest finish in 27 European Tour events and his prior best being a share of eighth in last year’s Wales Open.
The Crook of Devon golfer also has jumped 47 spots to 18th on the Race to Dubai and after arriving in Saudi lying 196th on the World Rankings he will get back home Monday and projected to move to 135th in the world.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson made it a second Saudi succes in three years winning pro career win number 28 by two shots at 15-under par.
