| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Scotland |
| Established | 1972 |
| Course(s) | Castle Stuart Golf Links |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,050 yards (6,447 m) |
| Tour(s) | European Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | £3,000,000 |
| Month played | July |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 262 Peter O'Malley (1992) |
| To par | -20 Ian Woosnam (1987) |
| Current champion | |
| Luke Donald | |
The Scottish Open, which has been sponsored by Barclays Capital since 2002, is one of the richer golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is currently played at Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness in the North of Scotland. The tournament traditionally takes place the week before The Open Championship, which is itself frequently played elsewhere in Scotland.
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The Scottish Open was first held in 1972 at Downfield Golf Club near Dundee, but after the second event at St Andrews in 1973 there was a twelve year hiatus before its return to the European Tour calendar in 1986, replacing the Glasgow Open. The tournament was held at Haggs Castle Golf Club in its first year back, before moving to Gleneagles until 1994. It was then hosted at Carnoustie for two years, but it was to disappear from the calendar again following the 1996 season.
Its place on the European Tour schedule from 1997 was taken by the Loch Lomond World Invitational, which had been first held the previous year. From 2001, it was decided that the Loch Lomond event would be known as the Scottish Open, and all prior editions would be granted Scottish Open status which resulted in the anomaly of having two champions in 1996.[1]
From 2001 until 2010, the Scottish Open was played at Loch Lomond. Some concern was expressed that the host course, which is very different from the links courses on which the Open Championship is played, puts European Tour players at a disadvantage in the subsequent major, compared to their leading rivals from the PGA Tour, who traditionally spend a week practising for the Open on links courses in Ireland.
There was a possibility that the event would move to the Dundonald links course in Ayrshire, but in 2006 the company's chief executive Keith Williams commented, "From our point of view, we would also perhaps regard Dundonald as being three years away from hosting a championship of this calibre."[2]
On 24 January 2011, it was announced that the 2011 Barclays Scottish Open would be held at Castle Stuart Golf Links, near Inverness, due to the financial difficulty being suffered by Loch Lomond. Play was reduced to 54 holes (three rounds) in the 2011 tournament due to heavy rain causing flooding and landslides at Castle Stuart.[3]
In 1972 the prize fund was £10,000, and by 2008 it had increased to £3 million, making it the largest in a European Tour event that is not co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour.[2]
| Year | Venue | Winner | Country | Score | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays Scottish Open | |||||
| 2011 | Castle Stuart Golf Links | Luke Donald | England | 197 (−19) | Fredrik Andersson Hed |
| 2010 | Loch Lomond GC | Edoardo Molinari | Italy | 272 (−12) | Darren Clarke |
| 2009 | Loch Lomond GC | Martin Kaymer | Germany | 269 (−15) | Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Raphaël Jacquelin |
| 2008 | Loch Lomond GC | Graeme McDowell | Northern Ireland | 271 (−13) | James Kingston |
| 2007 | Loch Lomond GC | Grégory Havret | France | 272 (−14) | Phil Mickelson |
| 2006 | Loch Lomond GC | Johan Edfors | Sweden | 271 (−13) | Luke Donald, Andrés Romero, Charl Schwartzel |
| 2005 | Loch Lomond GC | Tim Clark | South Africa | 265 (−19) | Darren Clarke, Maarten Lafeber |
| 2004 | Loch Lomond GC | Thomas Levet | France | 269 (−15) | Michael Campbell |
| 2003 | Loch Lomond GC | Ernie Els | South Africa | 267 (−17) | Darren Clarke, Phillip Price |
| 2002 | Loch Lomond GC | Eduardo Romero | Argentina | 273 (−11) | Fredrik Jacobson |
| The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond | |||||
| 2001 | Loch Lomond GC | Retief Goosen | South Africa | 268 (−16) | Thomas Bjørn |
| Standard Life Loch Lomond | |||||
| 2000 | Loch Lomond GC | Ernie Els | South Africa | 273 (−11) | Tom Lehman |
| 1999 | Loch Lomond GC | Colin Montgomerie | Scotland | 268 (−16) | Sergio García, Michael Jonzon, Mats Lanner |
| The Standard Life Loch Lomond | |||||
| 1998 | Loch Lomond GC | Lee Westwood | England | 276 (−8) | Robert Allenby, Dennis Edlund, David Howell, Eduardo Romero, Ian Woosnam |
| Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational | |||||
| 1997 | Loch Lomond GC | Tom Lehman | United States | 265 (−19) | Ernie Els |
| Loch Lomond World Invitational | |||||
| 1996* | Loch Lomond GC | Thomas Bjørn | Denmark | 277 (−7) | Jean van de Velde |
| Scottish Open | |||||
| 1996* | Carnoustie | Ian Woosnam | Wales | 289 (+1) | Andrew Coltart |
| 1995 | Carnoustie | Wayne Riley | Australia | 276 (−12) | Nick Faldo |
| Bell's Scottish Open | |||||
| 1994 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Carl Mason | England | 265 (−15) | Peter Mitchell |
| 1993 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Jesper Parnevik | Sweden | 271 (−9) | Payne Stewart |
| 1992 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Peter O'Malley | Australia | 262 (−18) | Colin Montgomerie |
| 1991 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Craig Parry | Australia | 268 (−12) | Mark McNulty |
| 1990 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Ian Woosnam | Wales | 269 (−15) | Mark McNulty |
| 1989 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Michael Allen | United States | 272 (−8) | José María Olazábal, Ian Woosnam |
| 1988 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Barry Lane | England | 271 (−13) | Sandy Lyle, José Rivero |
| 1987 | King's Course, Gleneagles | Ian Woosnam | Wales | 264 (−20) | Peter Senior |
| 1986 | Haggs Castle | David Feherty | Northern Ireland | 270 (−14) | Ian Baker-Finch, Christy O'Connor Jnr |
| 1974–1985 | No tournament | ||||
| Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open | |||||
| 1973 | St. Andrews, Old Course | Graham Marsh | Australia | 286 (−2) | Peter Oosterhuis |
| 1972 | Downfield, Dundee | Neil Coles | England | 283 (−5) | Brian Huggett |
* – Two events held in 1996