Scottish Open set for new beginning

Stellar field assemble to contest Castle Stuart’s maiden Scottish Open

A new era in Scottish championship golf begins tomorrow, as the nation’s flagship event heads to its new home in the Highlands on the banks of the Moray Firth.

The contemporary links of Castle Stuart is set to host its first Barclays Scottish Open – one of the premier events on the European Tour – and the new venue has attracted quite a crowd.

In the week before The Open Championship, a stellar field has gathered to compete on the young course just outside of Inverness.

Nine major champions, 23 Ryder Cup stars, five of the world’s top-ten and 110 players in total who have triumphed on either The European or PGA Tours will share the £3m prize fund as they vie for the £500k first prize.

Castle Stuart will see the world’s top two players, Englishmen Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, contend for the top spot that has oscillated between the pair recently.

Phil Mickelson, who lost out in a play-off to Gregory Havret at Loch Lomond in 2007, will attempt to secure his first Scottish Open title.

Victory at Castle Stuart would mean two Scottish Open triumphs at two different courses for Graeme McDowell, and it will also be a new trophy that 2008 champion G-Mac will hope to get his hands on this year.

Defending champion Edoardo Molinari will be seeking to continue his affection for Scotland by defending one of the two European Tour titles he won at the home of golf in 2010 – triumphs which contributed to his selection for Ryder Cup by Europe’s Scottish captain, Colin Montgomerie.

The home charge will be spearheaded by Scottish expatriate, PGA Tour star Martin Laird. Already a champion n the US this season, Laird will be seeking to add the event he regards as his “fifth major” to the Arnold Palmer Invitational title he won earlier this year.

However, despite the list of golfing luminaries heading to the Highlands this week, the real star attraction will be Castle Stuart.

The course, co-designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen – who were also instrumental in the design of another revered modern Scottish links, Kingsbarns – is the first links layout to stage the Scottish Open since Carnoustie in 1996.

Thereafter, the Loch Lomond World Invitational commandeered the Scottish Open’s status as a European Tour event, before that event itself assumed the title of Scottish Open in 2001.

Since then, the event hosted annually by the exclusive club on the Bonnie Banks has established itself as one of the most prestigious in the world of golf, regularly drawing a truly global field that transcends allegiances to either the European or PGA Tours.

The only aspect of the Scottish Open that ever incited criticism was that, in the week preceding The Open, the Scottish was contested at a parkland venue.

One man in particular, Tiger Woods, perennially eschewed the event, instead preferring to hone his game in private on links layouts that were akin to the courses of the Open rota. Of course, Woods will not be present at The Scottish Open – nor The Open – this year due to injury, though he had not scheduled to play at Castle Stuart regardless.

Despite Woods’ absence, The Scottish Open is about to embark on a new era, one which – in tandem with The Open – will herald a fortnight of world-class championship links golf.