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Whether you agree with Graeme McDowell or not, the one thing the US-based Northern Irishman has done is create a talking point about the Scottish Open. Good or bad, that’s at the very least a good thing for the European Tour event. The one thing the Scottish Open does not want to become is an after-thought. There are plenty of other events on the schedule that have that distinction.

McDowell was correct in saying there was more buzz when the event was at Loch Lomond. That’s only natural. Loch Lomond was truly unique. In all my time of covering the tournament on the Bonnie Banks I was forever bumping into family friends or old pals. Never had any of them paid for a ticket. “I’m just here on hospitality,” was the usual answer. It didn’t matter. The place was packed, everyone having a good time, whether they had paid at the gate or not.

Back then, the Scottish Open was one of only a very handful of events that made money. A previous employee of Loch Lomond Golf Club, a very high-ranking one at that, told this magazine many years ago he believed European Tour boss George O’Grady showed little interest in the Scottish Open as he believed overshadowed his flagship BMW PGA. That may or may not have been the case – it certainly isn’t now – but it perhaps shows how much of an imprint it made on the golf schedule at its peak.

This year’s event will hopefully give Castle Stuart the swansong it deserves before we head to Royal Aberdeen.

Loch Lomond was special, it had a huge buzz, and that buzz somehow did not carry into Inverness. Our staffer Michael McEwan has played Castle Stuart on numerous occasions and says it’s a superb test of golf. “Nothing wrong with it,” he says. McDowell was, to be fair, more in praise of the course than against it. His negative quotes were the only ones used in some press, which is a shame. However, it is no secret many players are not particularly fond of it. I remember overhearing one well-known caddie describe the course as “rubbish”, having only walked it. That’s what being short-sighted gets you. He’s now currently out of work, and thankfully so.

This year’s event will hopefully give Castle Stuart the swansong it deserves before we head to Royal Aberdeen, which is an almost completely different test of golf. One thing is for sure, it’s not the golf course’s problem that we have reached this ‘is the Scottish Open any good anymore?’ debate; we need to stop living in the glory days of Loch Lomond and move on. Luckily, we have European Tour events in Scotland, unlike England, where the almost endless list of excellent courses isn’t even nearly enough to convince a sponsor to throw up some cash. North of the border we are probably better off than we might like to think. Perhaps we should be thankful of that.

 

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Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered

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