Invitational

A pair of British golfers have been booted out of a Donald Trump Invitational event.

England‘s Sam Bairstow and Scotland‘s Calum Hill were among the DP World Tour pros in action for the Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links in Scotland this week.

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However, disaster struck as the duo endured a nightmare time on the green.

Bairstow, who had been among the bookies’ favourites to win a maiden DP World Tour title event, saw his game go off course with a major error at the end of his opening round.

The 26-year-old had noted down a five on the par-4 14th hole, when he had actually shot a seven after missing a fairway with his tee shot and forced to hit a provisional.

And having not found his original tee shot, the Englishman played a tap-in thinking he had made a bogey, a mistake neither of his playing partners had picked up either, when he actually made a triple bogey

He had headed into the scorers’ tent believing he was one-over with a score of 73, but it was later revealed to him that he was actually three-over 75.

Bairstow then dropped another stinker with a double-bogey at the par-5 closing hole.

And less than 24 hours later, Hill was also ejected from the Championship after failing to hole out at the eighth – his penultimate shot of the day.

The two-time DP World Tour winner endured a frustrating afternoon in tough conditions as he finished round one on four-over courtesy of a torrid back nine holes on Thursday.

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A bogey on par-5 on Friday gave way in the second round to a birdie on the par-4 15th – only for that to be immediately cancelled with a dropped shot attempt on the following par-3.

At six-over he then suffered another birdie-bogey before adding another bogey on the fourth.

His tournament then ended on hole 17 as Hill missed a par putt from inside nine feet – with the cut-off line being three-over. – before he decided to call it a day.

The duo won’t collect anything from their efforts on Scotland’s north-east coast either.

However, Hill is not likely to fall any lower than his current 26th rank in the Race to Dubai, while Bairstow is set to fall four places from 54 to 58.

The majority of Andy Farrell’s Test squad is more or less settled, but there were some guys out there playing for big stakes.

Hugo Keenan needed a reassuring display at full-back given that Blair Kinghorn will miss the first Test in Brisbane. And he delivered. Jac Morgan was competing for the open-side jersey that’s flitted between himself, Josh van der Flier and Tom Curry. Morgan was influential.

With the news coming through about Ringrose, Huw Jones picked a good night to have a big game. His partnership with Sione Tuipulotu was convincing.

By the time Farrell entered the fray the game was over as a contest, but he looked good all the same, although there are bigger examinations to come, of course.

After so many slow starts, the Lions must have craved a fast one – and they made it happen.

Hansen was good in the air, Morgan was good on the floor and Keenan was particularly good when taking a quick line-out throw that was at the heart of the first try, the brilliant Jones giving the pass for Van der Merwe to score.

Within a blink of an eye, White had taken advantage of a giant amount of space at the side of a ruck and he ran away to the posts. Smith’s conversion made it 12-0. The high hopes some might have had for the AUNZ side started to disappear into the night sky above the Adelaide Oval at that point.

The Lions were slick and sharp, the best they’ve been on tour. Ruthless, too. Pollock might have been held up in the corner, but it didn’t really matter. Soon enough, Tuipulotu and Smith were putting Van der Merwe away for the big man’s second try of the night.

More good stuff from Jones and more reminders of what a world-class attacker he is. If the Lions get bad news on Ringrose then what a player they have in Jones, who’s been getting better and better since returning from injury.