Scottish Open (golf)
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location |
 Scotland |
| Established | 1972, 43 years ago |
| Course(s) | Gullane Golf Club, |
| Tour(s) | European Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | £3.0 million |
| Month played | July |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 262 Peter O'Malley (1992) |
| To par | −20 Ian Woosnam (1987) |
| Current champion | |
 Justin Rose | |
The Scottish Open, sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, is one of the richer golf tournaments on the PGA European Tour. The 2015 championship will be played at Gullane Golf Club near Edinburgh. The tournament, a last chance for European Tour players to earn a spot in The Open Championship, traditionally takes place the week before The Open, which is itself frequently played elsewhere in Scotland.
History
The Scottish Open was first held 43 years ago 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 Golf Club. 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] The European Tour announced in September 2012 that the Scottish Open, now sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, would be played at Castle Stuart in 2013 and move to Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in 2014.[4] In July 2014 the Tour confirmed that the tournament would be played at Gullane Golf Club in 2015 and at Castle Stuart Golf Links in 2016.[5]
The prize fund was £10,000 in 1972, 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]
Winners
| Year | Venue | Winner | Country | Score | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open | |||||
| 2014 | Royal Aberdeen Golf Club | Justin Rose | England | 268 (−16) |  Kristoffer Broberg |
| 2013 | Castle Stuart Golf Links | Phil Mickelson |  United States | 271 (−17) |  Branden Grace |
| 2012 | Castle Stuart Golf Links | Jeev Milkha Singh |  India | 271 (−17) |  Francesco Molinari |
| Barclays Scottish Open | |||||
| 2011^ | Castle Stuart Golf Links | Luke Donald | England | 197 (−19) | Fredrik Andersson Hed |
| 2010 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Edoardo Molinari | Italy | 272 (−12) |  Darren Clarke |
| 2009 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Martin Kaymer |  Germany | 269 (−15) |  Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño,  Raphaël Jacquelin |
| 2008 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Graeme McDowell | Northern Ireland | 271 (−13) | James Kingston |
| 2007 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Grégory Havret | France | 272 (−14) | Phil Mickelson |
| 2006 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Johan Edfors | Sweden | 271 (−13) | Luke Donald,  Andrés Romero, Charl Schwartzel |
| 2005 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Tim Clark | South Africa | 265 (−19) | Darren Clarke,  Maarten Lafeber |
| 2004 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Thomas Levet | France | 269 (−15) |  Michael Campbell |
| 2003 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Ernie Els (2) | South Africa | 267 (−17) | Darren Clarke,  Phillip Price |
| 2002 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Eduardo Romero | Argentina | 273 (−11) | Fredrik Jacobson |
| The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond | |||||
| 2001 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Retief Goosen | South Africa | 268 (−16) |  Thomas Bjørn |
| Standard Life Loch Lomond | |||||
| 2000 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Ernie Els | South Africa | 273 (−11) | Tom Lehman |
| 1999 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Colin Montgomerie | Scotland | 268 (−16) | Sergio García, Michael Jonzon, Mats Lanner |
| The Standard Life Loch Lomond | |||||
| 1998 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Lee Westwood | England | 276 (−8) |  Robert Allenby, Dennis Edlund, David Howell, Eduardo Romero, Ian Woosnam |
| Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational | |||||
| 1997 | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Tom Lehman | United States | 265 (−19) | Ernie Els |
| Loch Lomond World Invitational | |||||
| 1996* | Loch Lomond Golf Club | Thomas Bjørn | Denmark | 277 (−7) | Jean van de Velde |
| Scottish Open | |||||
| 1996* | Carnoustie | Ian Woosnam (3) | 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 (2) | 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 |
| 1974–85: 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
^ – Shortened to 54 holes due to weather
References
- ↑ "Scottish Open: Historic yet new". BBC Sport. July 13, 2001. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Scottish Open will become one of Tour's richest tournaments". The Scotsman. July 17, 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ↑ "Bad weather suspends golf's Scottish Open". BBC News (BBC). 9 July 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
- ↑ "Scottish Open to moves to Royal Aberdeen in 2014". BBC Sport (BBC). 19 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ "Scottish Open: Gullane and Castle Stuart host next two tournaments". BBC Sport. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
External links
- Coverage on the European Tour's official site
- Royal Aberdeen Golf Club − official site
- Castle Stuart Golf Links − official site − hosted 2011−2013