Rory McIlroy branded Scottish Open at Renaissance Club 'too easy' but scoring will be different this time vows Jerry Sarvadi

East Lothian club’s CEO says winning total could be two or three-under

Played as the fourth last year, The Renaissance Club's signature hole will be the 13th for this week's Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. Picture: Getty Images

The man who knows the Tom Doak-designed course at The Renaissance Club like the back of his hand is confident it won't prove "too easy" for a second time in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

That was Rory McIlroy's description of how the East Lothian venue played for the event last year, when a combination of benign conditions and a rain-softened course resulted in the cut falling at five-under and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger posting a winning total of 22-under.

In a similar low-scoring event, Korea's Mi Jung Hur claimed victory with a 20-under aggregate in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at the same venue a few weeks later, though it was a tougher test for that this year when five-under was the winning score as American Stacy Lewis prevailed in a play-off in August.

"It is so dependent on the weather," Jerry Sarvadi, the CEO of The Renaissance Club, told The Scotsman in reply to being asked what he reckoned the winning total might be second time around in the men's event.

"If it's windy, rainy and cold, as the forecast is predicting, I would be surprised if someone wins with 10 or 12-under. But I also wouldn't be surprised if someone wins with two or three-under.

"I feel like we are prepared. I feel like the golf course is ready. There is no question that greens are better than they have ever been. Everyone coming off the golf course for the last two months has commented about the greens being magnificent.

"We have got them running right at the speeds we want and so that will hopefully make a difference. The whole summer has been virtually bone dry and on Monday night, in fact, we put water on three of our greens due to them being so dry.

"The issue we have is that, if you look at the forecast, there is rain coming again and that changes things. It is due to come out of the east with a 50-60 per cent chance of rain. It will change, it always does, but I suspect we will have rain at the weekend."

This week's event will use the same routing as the Ladies' Scottish Open, meaning the picturesque holes overlooking the Firth of Forth will be the 12th, 13th and 14th instead of being on the front nine last year.

"It works really well,” said Sarvadi. “The only negatives are walks from the ninth green to the tenth tee and the 16th green to the 17th tee.

"People have been commenting about the rough being thick. But the only thing that is going to be different is that outside the ropes where people would normally be walking and trample it down, that's not going to happen this week due to having no spectators.

"We’ve got a pretty field and it’s great that a few of the young Scottish lads have got in. It should be a really good show on television and I hope people watch it."

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