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Connor Syme turns focus to qualifying for The Open at Royal Portrush after DP World Tour breakthrough  
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Connor Syme turns focus to qualifying for The Open at Royal Portrush after DP World Tour breakthrough  

When the Italian Open gets under way later this week, Connor Syme will tee it up intent on capitalising on the springboard provided by his long-awaited first title on the DP World Tour.

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Fuelled by the renewed self-belief gained by his victory at the KLM Open earlier this month, the Scot enters a three-week run of events which he hopes can lead to him securing a place in The 153rd Open next month.

Not only is a historic national open on the line, but there are two spots on offer into the final Major Championship of the season at Royal Portrush.

The drive to get there is made stronger as it was at that venue where he reached the semi-finals of the Amateur Championship in 2014 and competed in the Home Internationals, playing alongside fellow future DP World Tour winner Robert MacIntyre in 2015.

With a route to Northern Ireland also on offer via the Race to Dubai following the upcoming BMW International Open and at the Genesis Scottish Open, Syme is excited by the short-term challenge in front of him.

Routes to Royal Portrush

• Italian Open: Part of the Open Qualifying Series, the event will offer two spots to the highest-placed finishers not already exempt

BMW International Open: The first five DP World Tour members and any DP World Tour members tying for fifth place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai Rankings will earn spots

• Genesis Scottish Open: Part of the Open Qualifying Series, the event will offer three places to the highest-placed finishers not already exempt

"It dangles a carrot onto already a brilliant golf tournament in the Italian Open," he said.

"I'd love to go back and play and try and test my game against the best in the world. Obviously, on the back of a win, it would feel really cool to do so.

"My goal was obviously to try and get into the Majors first and foremost. To try and play them on a regular basis would be brilliant.

"Winning the KLM Open felt like a big hurdle for me and hopefully I can kick on from here."

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Syme celebrates with his wife Alanis at The International

Guided by his dad and PGA professional, Stuart, throughout his career, Syme first secured his DP World Tour card through Qualifying School in 2017 – weeks after joining the paid ranks after ending his amateur career at the Walker Cup.

And while he won on the HotelPlanner Tour in Turkey in 2019, that lone win as a professional was not reflective of his ability.

Whether you knew him well or were just simply observing from the outside in, his victory in the Netherlands saw him realise what many believed he was capable of.

“As I said in my interview after finishing, I felt a lot more ready to step over the line this time,” he said, having been unable to convert 54-hole leads on three previous occasions.

“It just felt unbelievable. Was it worth the wait and did it make it feel a lot sweeter? Yeah, probably. Obviously with it being such a historic tournament as well, it's really, really special.”

With a three-shot lead with three holes to play, he was facing a potential two-shot swing when he came up short with his approach at the 16th and then saw nearest challenger and playing partner Joakim Lagergren hit an excellent approach.

However, under pressure, Syme made a brilliant up-and-down for par to match his final-round playing partner's score and keep hold of his healthy advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

"My psychological chat before might have been about how important this moment was and how important it would be to have a three-shot lead with two to play," he said. "It can be very difficult in the moment to get your mind back onto task.

"I think I got the lead on the 15th on Saturday, and I didn't let go of it from that point on so that means a lot after the work I've put in to try and cope with that sort of pressure for a long period of time.

"This sort of stuff doesn't really happen overnight.

"It's a lot of good hard work that I've been putting in to try and help my mental game as well as my golf game.

"I’ve read loads of stuff around it. I remember Pádraig Harrington playing the Senior Open a couple of years back and he was talking about how golf is at least 90 per cent mental.

"For whatever reason, I was just able to get into such an amazing state of mind, certainly over the weekend anyway, and not focus so much on the outcome."

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        With his two-shot win at The International, Syme added his name to a trophy that Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie have all won.

        But more significantly, Syme joined countrymen MacIntyre, Ewen Ferguson, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest and David Law in claiming DP World Tour silverware for the first time over the last five years or so.

        "I am obviously trying to write my own script and my own history I suppose, but you do obviously feel the weight of 'is this ever going to happen?',” he said.

        "Calum was able to win for the second time this year, Ewen has got three wins. Before it did maybe add a bit more pressure on me to do it because I was aware I was the last one out of that crop to try and do that."

        In the fast-paced environment of professional golf, it is often the case that a player does not get to truly savour their success, taking the earliest flight possible in readiness to prepare for the next tournament a matter of hours after lifting silverware.

        Yet, as luck would have it, that was not the case for Syme. With the KLM Open followed by the U.S. Open and then an off-week on the Race to Dubai schedule, he has had the opportunity to take stock of his achievement.

        Since returning from Amsterdam, Syme and his wife, Alanis, have attended a Robbie Williams concert in Manchester - even getting the chance to share a moment backstage with the pop star. In addition to that, the couple who wed last summer have spent time at Gleneagles, where Syme is an ambassador.

        "Getting back to work (last week), nothing has felt rushed since the win," said Syme.

        "To actually enjoy it for the week, rather than jumping straight back into a tournament was extra special."

        Sitting 21st on the Race to Dubai Rankings, Syme – who is exempt on the DP World Tour through to the end of the 2027 season – has in his sights earning dual membership by claiming one of the ten PGA TOUR cards on offer via the Race to Dubai.

        Should he do that, and he has a good shot at it with less than half of the season left to play, he would join MacIntyre, who has taken his game to new heights by winning two PGA TOUR titles – including the Genesis Scottish Open – since benefitting from the same pathway in 2023.

        "Obviously, Bob's been the gold standard for Scottish golf for a number of years now,” he said. “It's so, so impressive what he's doing. I watched all the golf on the Sunday [of the U.S. Open]. It was very cool and inspiring to watch him do that.

        "I've known Bob for a long time and seen him do that through all age groups, so this doesn't surprise me at all that he's now doing it at such a big stage.”

        Not that Syme, with a well-deserved reputation as one of the nicest players on Tour, is letting the success of others serve as motivation – that comes from within.

        “But if I am taking anything from what I was able to do at the KLM then it is to just really focus on what I was doing and what my brand of golf was like,” he added.

        *Connor Syme withdrew from the Italian Open after the publication of this article

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