Scottish Open hoping to lure Tiger Woods to Inverness

Published on Monday 24 January 2011 19:17

PHIL Mickelson and Graeme McDowell, the Masters and US Open champion respectively, will be joined by three-time major winner Padraig Harrington when the Barclays Scottish Open is staged for the first time at Castle Stuart this summer.

Harrington will be making his first appearance in the 3 million event since 1999 and now organisers will be waiting with baited breath to see if Tiger Woods might also be tempted to add the event to his schedule given that it will provide perfect links preparation the week before the Open Championship.

Woods played in the event at Carnoustie in 1995 and 1996, but, despite repeated attempts, the 14-time major winner was never tempted to Loch Lomond, preferring to head to Ireland instead most years to play links golf there before playing in the world's oldest major.

Harrington has also preferred to stay in his homeland in recent years, honing his links game at The European Club in the Irish PGA Championship, but the decision to host this year's Barclays Scottish Open at one of the country's newest championship courses near Inverness on 7-10 July has prompted an immediate change to his schedule.

"Castle Stuart is reputed to be a fine addition to Scotland's links courses and I think many players will welcome the opportunity to play competitive links golf the week prior to the Open Championship, which has proved to be ideal preparation for me in the past," said the Dubliner.

As for Woods, Castle Stuart general manager, Stuart McColm, said: "If Edinburgh Zoo can get the panda, we can get the Tiger!"

Due to his ties with Barclays, Mickelson's decision to play in the event for the third time in four years is no real surprise, though his presence along with McDowell will certainly be a welcome boost when the European Tour breaks new ground by staging a tournament as far north as the Highlands capital.

Castle Stuart has signed a "multi-year deal", believed to be for three years, with Barclays having an option to extend its sponsorship beyond this year, when its current contract expires.

"It is always exciting to break new ground and everyone at the European Tour is delighted to be staging one of our most prestigious events at a new venue which has been so widely acclaimed," said chief executive George O'Grady.

While it had been anticipated that a delay in announcing the new venue had been caused by some complications at the Loch Lomond end, that doesn't appear to be the case. "Loch Lomond were extremely courteous and supportive during our negotiations to move forward with the championship and we will all take away some wonderful memories of our time there and we wish them well in the future," added O'Grady.

Designed by Americans Mark Parsinen and Gil Hanse - it was voted as Best New Course for 2009 by Golf Magazine USA - Castle Stuart will become only the seventh course to stage the Scottish Open and only the third links after St Andrews and Carnoustie.

"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," said Parsinen. "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."

Barclays believe the move to the Highlands will prove popular with the Scottish golfing public and so does McColm. "The area is so starved of international stars that we all think we can even match Loch Lomond in terms of crowds, 80,000 over the whole week, something like that," he added. "The acid test will come on 7 July. I'll be very disappointed if the fans don't support it. There will be trains coming from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, then free shuttle buses from Inverness station to the course."