Genesis Scottish Open invitations all handed out as last one goes to home player
Six Scots set to tee it up in world-class field for $9m Rolex Series event at The Renaissance Club
Scott Jamieson has pipped Richie Ramsay for the invitation set aside for a home player in next week’s Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.
A total of three invitations were up for grabs in the $9 million Rolex Series event, which is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
One of those has been handed to five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who is back playing on the PGA Tour after leaving LIV Golf but wouldn’t have gotten into the field through his current category.
Another of the spots has gone to three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, who has been involved in a consultancy capacity over the past few years with the American owners of The Renaissance Club.
As has been the case for the three most recent editions, the last invitation was set aside for a Scottish player, with it being determined by the positions on the entry list.
That meant Jamieson secured it on the strength of him sitting just above Ramsay after they finished 88th and 90th respectively on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai Ranking last year.
In a similar situation last year but with the tables turned, Ramsay was handed the extra Scottish spot, with David Law getting it in 2024 and Grant Forrest, who is attached to The Renaissance Club, earning the opportunity to tee it up on home soil the year before that.
“We gave the invite to the next Scot on the entry list which was Scott Jamieson,” said Rory Colville, the championship director. “This is consistent with recent years, continuing to use an invite to support the number of Scots in the field.”
Jamieson, who finished joint-third on his debut in the tournament at Castle Stuart in 2011, will join five of his compatriots in a world-class field as The Renaissance Club stages the tournament for the eighth year in row.
The home contingent will be headed by Bob MacIntyre, the 2024 winner, with Forrest, Connor Syme, Ewen Ferguson and Calum Hill all securing spots as well through various DP World Tour categories earned last season.
For Forrest, Syme, Ferguson, Hill and Jamieson, teeing up on home soil will provide an opportunity to also join MacIntyre in the field for The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale the following week.
The Genesis Scottish Open is the final tournament in the Qualifying Series for this year’s Claret Jug event, with three spots going to the leading three players, not already exempt, who make the cut in Southport.
Whitecraigs-attached PGA professional Jack McDonald is currently the only player set to join MacIntyre, who finished joint-seventh behind Scottie Scheffler at Royal Portrush last year, in flying the Saltire in the season’s final men’s major. For the second time in three years, McDonald came through one of the Final Qualifying events at Dundonald Links earlier this week.
In an exciting new event being held by The R&A on the Monday of The Open week, the last spot in the 156-man field will go to the winner of a Last Chance Qualifier over 18 holes at Royal Birkdale.
It will involve 12 players, with the line up still to be announced, though it looks as though Blairgowrie amateur Connor Graham, who played in The Open at Royal Portrush last year, is set to miss out as one of the ‘unlucky losers’ in that Dundonald Links shoot-out.
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