Scottish Open (golf)

Scottish Open
Tournament information
Location Scotland Scotland
Established 1935, re-established 1972, 1986
Course(s) Castle Stuart Golf Links
Par 72
Length 7,193 yards (6,577 m)
Tour(s) European Tour
Format Stroke play
Prize fund £3.25 million
Month played July
Tournament record score
Aggregate 262 Peter O'Malley (1992)
To par −20 Ian Woosnam (1987)
Current champion
Sweden Alexander Norén
Castle
Stuart
Location in United Kingdom
Castle Stuart
Location in Scotland

The Scottish Open (known as the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open for sponsorship reasons) is a golf tournament on the European Tour. It is one of the richer events on the Tour, and traditionally takes place the week prior to the Open Championship—making it the last chance for European Tour players to qualify for the tournament (which is, itself, frequently played elsewhere in Scotland).

The 2016 edition was won by Alexander Norén at Castle Stuart, northeast of Inverness.

History

1935 and 1936

In 1935 Gleneagles hosted a Scottish Open Championship held on the King's course. Total prize money was £750.[1] The R&A objected to use of the term "Championship" being used for a tournament organised by a private enterprise.[2] Percy Alliss won the tournament by 4 strokes from Jack Busson with an aggregate of 273.[3] The 1936 tournament was sponsored by Penfold and known as the Penfold Scottish Open. Penfold had sponsored tournaments in Wales and England from 1932 to 1934. The tournament was played at Ayr Belleisle Golf Club. Total prize money was again £750. After 72 holes Jimmy Adams and Tom Collinge tied on 287.[4] In the 36-hole play-off, Adams had rounds of 68 and 69 and won by 11 strokes.[5] It was intended to hold the 1937 Penfold Scottish Open at Carnoustie just before the 1937 Open Championship which was to be played there. The R&A objected to the arrangement and the event was cancelled.[6] Penfold resumed their sponsorship with the Penfold Professional Golf League in 1938.

1972 and 1973

The first Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open was held in 1972 at Downfield Golf Club near Dundee. Neil Coles beat Brian Huggett at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off, holing a 12-foot putt.[7] Total prize money was £10,000 with a first prize of £2,000. Sunbeam Electric had sponsored the Sunbeam Electric Tournament in 1971.

In 1973 the event was played on the Old Course at St Andrews. Graham Marsh won by 6 strokes from Peter Oosterhuis.[8] Total prize money was increased to £15,000 with a first prize of £2,500.[9]

Both 1972 and 1973 tournaments were broadcast extensively on ITV.[10][9]

1986 revival

The event returned to the European Tour calendar in 1986, replacing the Glasgow Open which had been held from 1983 to 1985. 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.[11]

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."[12]

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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] While in April 2016, it was announced that the tournament would head to Ayrshire for the first time in its current guise, with Dundonald Links – host of the Ladies Scottish Open in 2015 and 2016 – the chosen venue.[16]

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.[12]

In 2016 at Castle Stuart, the tournament attendance figures nosedived by more than 20,000 to 41,809 over the four tournament days.[17]

Winners

YearWinnerCountryVenueScoreTo parMargin
of victory		Runner(s)-up
Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open
2016 Alexander Norén  Sweden Castle Stuart Golf Links 274 −14 1 stroke England Tyrrell Hatton
2015 Rickie Fowler  United States Gullane Golf Club 268 −12 1 stroke France Raphaël Jacquelin
United States Matt Kuchar
2014 Justin Rose  England Royal Aberdeen Golf Club 268 −16 2 strokes Sweden Kristoffer Broberg
2013 Phil Mickelson  United States Castle Stuart Golf Links 271 −17 Playoff South Africa Branden Grace
2012 Jeev Milkha Singh  India Castle Stuart Golf Links 271 −17 Playoff Italy Francesco Molinari
Barclays Scottish Open
2011 Luke Donald  England Castle Stuart Golf Links 197^ −19 4 strokes Sweden Fredrik Andersson Hed
2010 Edoardo Molinari  Italy Loch Lomond Golf Club 272 −12 3 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke
2009 Martin Kaymer  Germany Loch Lomond Golf Club 269 −15 2 strokes Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
France Raphaël Jacquelin
2008 Graeme McDowell  Northern Ireland Loch Lomond Golf Club 271 −13 2 strokes South Africa James Kingston
2007 Grégory Havret  France Loch Lomond Golf Club 272 −14 Playoff United States Phil Mickelson
2006 Johan Edfors  Sweden Loch Lomond Golf Club 271 −13 2 strokes England Luke Donald
Argentina Andrés Romero
South Africa Charl Schwartzel
2005 Tim Clark  South Africa Loch Lomond Golf Club 265 −19 2 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke
Netherlands Maarten Lafeber
2004 Thomas Levet  France Loch Lomond Golf Club 269 −15 1 stroke New Zealand Michael Campbell
2003 Ernie Els (2)  South Africa Loch Lomond Golf Club 267 −17 5 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke
Wales Phillip Price
2002 Eduardo Romero  Argentina Loch Lomond Golf Club 273 −11 Playoff Sweden Fredrik Jacobson
The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond
2001 Retief Goosen  South Africa Loch Lomond Golf Club 268 −16 3 strokes Denmark Thomas Bjørn
Standard Life Loch Lomond
2000 Ernie Els  South Africa Loch Lomond Golf Club 273 −11 1 stroke United States Tom Lehman
1999 Colin Montgomerie  Scotland Loch Lomond Golf Club 268 −16 3 strokes Spain Sergio García
Sweden Michael Jonzon
Sweden Mats Lanner
The Standard Life Loch Lomond
1998 Lee Westwood  England Loch Lomond Golf Club 276 −8 4 strokes Australia Robert Allenby
Sweden Dennis Edlund
England David Howell
Argentina Eduardo Romero
Wales Ian Woosnam
Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational
1997 Tom Lehman  United States Loch Lomond Golf Club 265 −19 5 strokes South Africa Ernie Els
Loch Lomond World Invitational
1996* Thomas Bjørn  Denmark Loch Lomond Golf Club 277 −7 1 stroke France Jean van de Velde
Scottish Open
1996* Ian Woosnam (3)  Wales Carnoustie 289 +1 4 strokes Scotland Andrew Coltart
1995 Wayne Riley  Australia Carnoustie 276 −12 2 strokes England Nick Faldo
Bell's Scottish Open
1994 Carl Mason  England King's Course, Gleneagles 265 −15 1 stroke England Peter Mitchell
1993 Jesper Parnevik  Sweden King's Course, Gleneagles 271 −9 5 strokes United States Payne Stewart
1992 Peter O'Malley  Australia King's Course, Gleneagles 262 −18 2 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
1991 Craig Parry  Australia King's Course, Gleneagles 268 −12 1 stroke Zimbabwe Mark McNulty
1990 Ian Woosnam (2)  Wales King's Course, Gleneagles 269 −15 4 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty
1989 Michael Allen  United States King's Course, Gleneagles 272 −8 2 strokes Spain José María Olazábal
Wales Ian Woosnam
1988 Barry Lane  England King's Course, Gleneagles 271 −13 3 strokes Scotland Sandy Lyle
Spain José Rivero
1987 Ian Woosnam  Wales King's Course, Gleneagles 264 −20 7 strokes Australia Peter Senior
1986 David Feherty  Northern Ireland Haggs Castle 270 −14 Playoff Australia Ian Baker-Finch
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr
1974–85: No tournament
Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open
1973 Graham Marsh  Australia Old Course at St Andrews 286 −2 6 strokes England Peter Oosterhuis
1972 Neil Coles  England Downfield, Dundee 283 −5 Playoff Wales Brian Huggett
1937–71: No tournament
Penfold Scottish Open
1936 Jimmy Adams  Scotland Belleisle Golf Club, Ayr 287 n/a Playoff England Tom Collinge
Scottish Open Championship
1935 Percy Alliss  England Gleneagles Hotel 273 n/a 4 strokes England Jack Busson

* – Two events held in 1996
^ – Shortened to 54 holes due to weather

References

  1. ↑ "The Scottish "Open" – Practice play at Gleneagles". The Glasgow Herald. 17 June 1935. p. 20.
  2. ↑ "Golf – Scottish "Open" qualifiers – Callum and Alliss lead". The Glasgow Herald. 19 June 1935. p. 12.
  3. ↑ "Great finish by Alliss – Final round of 66 at Gleneagles – Record aggregate in Scots Open championship". The Glasgow Herald. 20 June 1935. p. 20.
  4. ↑ "Collinge-Adams replay – Tie in the Penfold tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 18 June 1936. p. 20.
  5. ↑ "Record-breaking win – Adams's rounds of 68 and 69". The Glasgow Herald. 19 June 1936. p. 4.
  6. ↑ "Scottish tournament cancelled – Result of R. and A. Club objection". The Glasgow Herald. 2 January 1937. p. 15.
  7. ↑ "Golf – Coles wins title putting like a demon". The Times. 3 July 1972. p. 11.
  8. ↑ "Marsh in line for Open win". The Glasgow Herald. 2 July 1963. p. 5.
  9. 1 2 "Golf –Scottish Open moves to the Old course". The Times. 12 January 1973. p. 7.
  10. ↑ "Golf – Rich plum beyond reach of sponsors". The Times. 12 July 1972. p. I.
  11. ↑ "Scottish Open: Historic yet new". BBC Sport. July 13, 2001. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  12. 1 2 "Scottish Open will become one of Tour's richest tournaments". The Scotsman. July 17, 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  13. ↑ "Bad weather suspends golf's Scottish Open". BBC News. BBC. 9 July 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  14. ↑ "Scottish Open to moves to Royal Aberdeen in 2014". BBC Sport. BBC. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  15. ↑ "Scottish Open: Gullane and Castle Stuart host next two tournaments". BBC Sport. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  16. ↑ McEwan, Michael (25 April 2016). "Dundonald Links to host 2017 Scottish Open". bunkered.
  17. ↑ Inglis, Martin (10 July 2016). "Scottish Open attendance 'disappointing'". bunkered.

Coordinates: 57°31′41″N 4°06′22″W / 57.528°N 4.106°W / 57.528; -4.106

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.