Scottish Open (golf)

Infobox_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = Scottish Open


location = flagicon|SCO Scotland
establishment = 1972
course = Loch Lomond Golf Club
par = 71
yardage = 7,149
tour = European Tour
format = Stroke play
purse = £ 3,000,000
month_played = July
defunct =
aggregate = 262 Peter O'Malley (1992)
to-par = -20 Ian Woosnam (1987)
score =
Current Champion = flagicon|NIR Graeme McDowell

The Scottish Open, which is has been sponsored by Barclays Capital since 2002, is one of the richer golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is currently played at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Argyll and Bute to the North of Glasgow.

The tournament takes place the week before The Open Championship, and some concern has been expressed that the host course, which is very different from the links courses on which the Open 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 is a possibility that the event will move to the Dundonald links course in Ayrshire in the future, which is owned by the same company as Loch Lomond, 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."cite news | url=http://sport.scotsman.com/scottishopen/Scottish-Open-will-become-one.2792910.jp |title= Scottish Open will become one of Tour's richest tournaments |publisher=The Scotsman|date= July 17, 2006 |accessdate=2008-10-10]

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 it's 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. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/1435952.stm | title=Scottish Open: Historic yet new |publisher=BBC Sport |date=July 13, 2001 |accessdate=2008-10-10]

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.

Winners

"* - Two events held in 1996"

References

External links

* [http://www.barclaysscottishopen.co.uk/index.shtml Official site]
* [http://www.europeantour.com/default.sps?pageid=127&pagegid=%7BAEFB93B0%2DEFF5%2D4C05%2DAB0F%2DFD08D947D944%7D&eventid=2007058&infosid=3 Coverage on the European Tour's official site]