Calum Hill boosted his hopes of teeing up in the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in just over a fortnight’s time despite narrowly missing out in the latest Qualifying Series event. Two spots up for grabs through the Italian Open went to French duo Adrien Saddier, who landed his maiden DP World Tour triumph in his 200th start, and runner-up Martin Couvra. After going bogey-free over the weekend, Hill finished joint-third, coming up two shots short in his bid to book a spot in the season’s final major on the County Antrim coast. However, the Scot’s strong performance at Argentario Golf Club in Tuscany, where he followed a best-of-the-day 64 on Saturday with a blemish-free 68 to finish, has given him a chance to qualify for the Claret Jug event through another route. The top five players who are not otherwise exempt in the Race to Dubai Rankings after next week’s BMW International Open in Munich will secure spots in The Open. Having climbed nine places on the back of this effort, Hill now sits 22nd and another strong display at Golfclub München Eichenried could see the Joburg Open champion secure a debut in the game’s oldest major. “Friday was not a great day, making a few errors, but the rest was really positive,” said Hill of his week’s work. “Lots of positive signs on the greens and lots of positives as regards to ball-striking. Yeah, very happy.” Recent KLM Open winner Connor Syme slipped three spots to 24th in the Race to Dubai standings after being forced to pull out of the Italian Open due to a family bereavement, with Ewen Ferguson, the defending BMW International Open champion, sitting 32nd. Bob MacIntyre, who was exempt following his great season last year, was joined in the field for Royal Portrush by Cameron Adam on Saturday as the Royal Burgess player won The Open Amateur Series. That spared him lining up among the Final Qualifying hopefuls at four venues around the UK on Saturday, with the bulk of the Scottish contenders teeing up at Dundonald Links. Saddier, who made his debut on the circuit in 2014 but had never managed to finish better than second, was overcome with emotion after making his breakthrough with a two-shot success. "It's great,” said the 33-year-old. “It's taken so much work to be able to do this. I'm just grateful.” Meanwhile, Daniel Young is up to sixth in the HotelPlanner Tour’s Road to Mallorca Rankings after recording a second successive top-five finish in France. Backing up his third-placed performance in the BlotPlay 9 event at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André, the Perth man secured a tie for second in the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge. Young closed with a birdie to force his way into a four-man play-off, which was won by Englishman David Horsey with a birdie at the first extra hole. “It’s good to get it over the line,” said Horsey, a four-time main tour winner, of his first title triumph for ten years. “It’s been a tough road the last four or five years. I’ve had a few injuries and I haven’t been playing very well so it’s nice to finally start putting a series of rounds together.”