Connor Syme praises 'invaluable' experiences supported by Scottish Golf 

Connor Syme hailed the "invaluable" impact Scottish Golf has had on his career as the recent DP World Tour winner prepares to tee up at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Syme claimed his maiden DP World Tour crown at the KLM Open last month and arrives at the Renaissance Club full of confidence, despite missing the cut at last week's BMW International Open.

He spoke about his experiences growing up through the amateur ranks during his press conference on Tuesday, and he had nothing but high praise for Scottish Golf and its support.

"I think certainly from my point of view and, I guess I can only speak about it from my experience with Scottish Golf, I think I got it really, really good," Syme said.

"We had such amazing support, and if I'm honest, I didn't go to college in America because of the support Scottish Golf offered us.

"From my point of view, being able to travel to places - we'd spent eight weeks in South Africa, and a four week stint in the Middle East.

"In 2016, I won the Australian Amateur, four weeks there and four weeks in South Africa. I think that was a real exposure to what professional golf is like.

"I don't even play that many events now; four or five weeks in a row you're away from home, but having that experience of being away for long periods of time helped me so much.

"It's obviously fun, making it possible for guys, but that was definitely something I look back on as going, 'wow, that has really, really helped me' to get on Tour and understand what it's like.

"Again, I can't speak from a college standpoint, I never did that. It almost feels like you need to go there now with the reward from doing that. But we got to travel all around the world, which was invaluable, really."

The Kirkcaldy native was tied for 15th place during last year's event, which was his best finish at the tournament, and he is yet to miss the cut in six attempts at his home Open.

With that perfect record and great run of form, Syme, who turns 28 on Friday, has more confidence than ever that he could succeed in North Berwick.

"I love this golf course. We've been coming here for obviously quite a few years now, and it always gets better every year," he said.

"It gets more linksy, there's something added to try and make it, enhance it each year. It's one I like and hopefully I can kind of feed off the good performance last year and build on that."

Syme, who will play alongside Tommy Fleetwood and U.S. Open Champion JJ Spaun in his first two rounds at the Renaissance Club, added: "Even when I won in Holland, it was like taking you back as a kid to when you're putting to go try and win tournaments. That's what I was thinking about to be honest when I had that putt to win.

"It was like all the kind of reps you'd done to try and have a moment like that, and obviously for us, being Scottish, they are the ones you think about more; The Open, The Scottish Open, the Masters - they are the stuff you dream about.

"Obviously having got a win, it's definitely given me a lot of belief that I can do that."