Fairmont St Andrews to stage new European Tour event in October

The Scottish Championship at Fairmont St Andrews in October is among three new events announced today by the European Tour

Fairmont St Andrews is to stage the €1 million Scottish Championship, a new European Tour event, in October, extending the circuit's second UK Swing.

The tournament on 15-18 October has been added to the revised 2020 schedule along with a ground-breaking visit to Cyprus for two consecutive events.

At the same time, tour bosses have confirmed the cancellation of this year’s Magical Kenya Open, the Turkish Airlines Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

The Scottish Championship will follow the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Castle Golf Club (24-27 Sept), the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club (1-4 Oct) and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth (8-11 Oct).

It will be played on the Torrance Course at the Fife venue, which has hosted the Scottish Seniors Open in the past but will be staging a main tour event for the first time.

“We are delighted that the European Tour have selected Fairmont St Andrews and the Torrance Course to host the Scottish Championship," said John Keating, area general manager of Luxury Brands Scotland and Ireland.

“With so many iconic venues staging European Tour Events in 2020, we are thrilled to be part of this. The course will provide a great test and challenge for the players so we are looking forward to seeing the performance, and hope the players enjoy the chance to be back in St Andrews.”

The slot became available following the ASI Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship both moving forward a week.

That resulted from a decision by organisers to call off this year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing restrictions.

The Cyprus Open on 20 October-1 November and the Cyprus Classic from 5-8 November 5-8 with both be played at Aphrodite Hills Resort, near in Paphos, with prize funds of €1 million.

They will be played without spectators and will be subject to the tour’s comprehensive health strategy and based on Cypriot Government guidelines.

The back-to-back tournaments, which will be promoted by International Sports Management (ISM), continue the tour’s strategy of staging consecutive tournaments in geographical clusters wherever possible to reduce the onus on international travel.

“We are pleased to be able to announce these three new tournaments as part of our 2020 International Schedule, which will continue to give valuable playing opportunities to our members," said Ben Cowen, the tour's deputy chief operating officer.

“We are grateful to Aphrodite Hills Resort and ISM for their support in staging two consecutive tournaments as part of our first trip to Cyprus, and we look forward to showcasing the country to our global television audience.

“Similarly our thanks also go to Fairmont St Andrews, which has previously staged the Scottish Senior Open, for stepping up to now host the Scottish Championship, which extends our second UK Swing to four events.

As the Home of Golf, Scotland obviously has many top class golfing venues and we are delighted to be visiting another of those.”

Following the Scottish Championship, the Italian Open will be played from 22-25 October, with a venue to be confirmed, but, like the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, following the many changes and disruption to this year’s schedule, it will not be part of the Rolex Series.

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