New links venue for Scottish Open makes perfect sense..

For the last 15 years the Scottish Open has been played on the beautiful course at Loch Lomond..

Problem is that course is a lush parkland track, not the type of course you want to play to hone your skills for the Open the week following..

So the announcement today that they have selected a new Highland links venue for this year is a welcome one in my books and I think it will attract a much stronger field, since many of the guys go and play on links courses in Ireland instead of the Scottish because of it's previous venue at Loch Lomond


CASTLE STUART GOLF LINKS TO STAGE THE 2011 BARCLAYS SCOTTISH OPEN

The European Tour has entered into an agreement with Castle Stuart Golf Links, situated between Inverness and Nairn on Scotland’s Moray Firth coast, which has been confirmed as the venue for the Barclays Scottish Open. The 2011 Championship will be played from July 7-10.

Castle Stuart Golf Links will be the seventh Scottish course to play host to the prestigious tournament since 1972; following in the footsteps of Downfield, St Andrews, Haggs Castle, The Gleneagles Hotel, Carnoustie and Loch Lomond Golf Club, which staged proceedings over the last 15 years from 1996 to 2010.

The ground breaking trip to the Highlands also begins a two week festival of links golf which spans the entire length of the United Kingdom, as it is followed by The 140th Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Kent, England; the fortnight perfectly showcasing the best of what is new in links golf at Castle Stuart as well as celebrating the heritage of the links game at Sandwich.

The prize fund for the 2011 Barclays Scottish Open remains at £3 million and to claim the first prize of £500,000, the players will have to conquer a new golf course which has received worldwide praise since its official opening in the summer of 2009.

Co-designed by Managing Partner Mark Parsinen – who was also responsible for the design of Kingsbarns in Fife – and American golf course architect Gil Hanse, the course was voted as Best New Course for 2009 by Golf Magazine USA while Ron Whitten, writing in the December 2010 issue of Golf Digest USA, stated that “Castle Stuart might be the most perfectly conceived and executed design ever built.”

Italian Edoardo Molinari will defend the title against a stellar field including Graeme McDowell, the 2008 champion, and Phil Mickelson, winners of the US Open and the Masters Tournament respectively in 2010, and three time Major Champion Padraig Harrington, who have all, at this early stage, committed to playing at Castle Stuart in July (see Player Quotes in Note to Editors).

Course co-designer Parsinen commented: "I fell in love with links golf in the British Isles 40 years ago and have spent the past 15 honing certain links sensibilities, firstly with the crafting of Kingsbarns in St Andrews and now with Castle Stuart in the Highlands.

“All of us involved with Castle Stuart know what a privilege it is to host the Barclays Scottish Open as the first stop in a two week celebration of links golf in the British Isles."

“We have always received requests from professionals to host the Barclays Scottish Open at a links course and we are delighted The European Tour has selected Castle Stuart.

Bryan Angus