Poulter, McDowell return to support European Tour at Scottish Open

 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open tee times   Tee Times   

Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell have said goodbye to their families in Florida and will be playing this week at the newly re vamped Renaissance Club in North Berwick in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, then the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week.

Both players of course are legends of the European Ryder Cup team, Poulter English, McDowell from Northern Ireland, both earned their stripes playing around the world on the European Tour long before making their fortune, joining the exodus to Florida or the Bahamas like Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy etal.

This week is a Rolex Series tournament and the amount of money that sponsor has invested in their 8 event series has been a godsend to this tour, hit hard financially by the COVID virus. While PGA Tour events have managed to continue with full purses, many here are playing for a 1million euros total purse.

The Renaissance club was branded too easy by Rory McIlroy after Bernd Wiesberger's record -22 score last year. Holes 1-7 and 10-16 have been flipped to allow the back nine to be played along the Firth of Forth. The rough has grown in with no spectators, the course lengthened to 7300 from under 7000 with new tee boxes and importantly a stiff easterly wind is in the forecast, opposed to the flat calm in 2019.

It's a strong field, and with the changes will be a tough test, welcome news for many of my Scottish colleagues who'd rather have seen it played  at the venerable North Berwick links just down the road.

Note:  Dougie Donnelly long time commentator on the European Tour TV coverage will not be heard this week as he has moved on to a new chapter in his storied career. A legendary figure in Scotland where he began his broadcasting career at Radio Clyde in 1970, his educated articulate presentation has been the lead voice of the best golf broadcasting team on either side of the Atlantic since leaving the BBC in 2010.

Bryan Angus