Why home player is feeling 'proud' to be teeing up in Women's Scottish Open
Laura Beveridge was still at university when she first played at Dundonald Links and the Ayrshire venue had a portacabin for its clubhouse.
More than a decade on, the Aberdonian is licking her lips at the prospect of being back to test herself against some of the world’s top players in the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open while also now enjoying the use of a plush permanent clubhouse and its top-class facilities.
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Hide AdAlong with compatriot Kylie Henry, Beveridge secured an invitation for the $2 million tournament, the duo joining top-ranked Scot Gemma Dryburgh in flying the Saltire on the west coast, where the action gets underway on Thursday.


“It’s an absolute bonus to be playing in this event,” admitted Beveridge, who found herself relying on an invitation after finishing 73rd in last season’s Race to Costa del Sol Ranking on the Ladies European Tour.
“I hadn’t put in my calendar, to be honest, as I thought with only four invitations up for grabs my chances of getting in would be slim, but it’s nice they’ve given spots to a couple of Scots and hopefully myself and Kylie can put on a bit of a show this week.”
Boasting five of the world’s top-ten players and 34 Olympians, led by Lydia Ko, the gold medallist in France last week, the field is the strongest ever for the LET and LPGA co-sanctioned event as it takes place at Dundonald Links for the third year in a row.
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Hide Ad“It’s a great event to be taking place on the back of the success of the Olympics and it will be nice to test ourselves against some of the best players in the world,” added Beveridge, who is attached to Kippie Lodge Sports & Country Club in Aberdeenshire. “A big week in an event like this can change a season and even a career as it’s a good prize fund.
“This is my fourth or even fifth appearance in this event, but I also played here in the Scottish Universities’ Championship, though that is going back a fair number of years (laughing). I won that event in 2012 or something like that.
“I feel like I know the course and also how tough it can play. We’ve seen winds from all directions and hopefully that gives us a bit of an advantage over some of the others in the field.”
Since being bought by Darwin Escapes, Dundonald Links has been transformed as a golf resort, with some of the players competing this week staying in high-quality on-site rooms and lodges while the clubhouse with its Canny Craw Restaurant has earned rave reviews since it opened.
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Hide Ad“It’s really cool,” observed Beveridge of the off-course facilities. “The clubhouse used to be a portacabin when the Scottish Universities was here, although it was one of the nicest portacabins I’ve ever seen.
“It feels like a proper event this week and you can tell that with the number of volunteers that are around and the support staff. They’ve put a lot of thought, effort and money into this week and it’s really nice to see that this is our flagship event - I’m really proud to be playing in it.”
Beveridge will have American Ryan O’Toole, the 2021 winner at Dumbarnie Links, and Korean world No 13 Hyo Joo Kim for company in her opening two rounds as she bids to produce something special on home soil.
“We’ve had some time off since the Netherlands, so I am pretty well rested and well prepared at the same time and hopefully I am good to go,” said the 36-year-old, a two-time St Rule Trophy winner at St Andrews in her amateur days.
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Hide Ad“We’ve had these good little spells this season and I’ve had good performances within tournaments but not as a whole. Each week we take something away from it and we’ve had a couple of weeks off to work on the game and it’s feeling pretty good. I just need a little bit of momentum to kick us on for the back end of the season and we will be alright.
“I’ve missed the cut four times this year by one shot and that’s really unusual for me. Normally, I’m up there or missing the cut by a long way. I think that shows my game has improved but also that the standard has improved as a whole.
"So we are always just trying to gain those one per cents here and there to try and make sure we are in amongst it. Yeah, it doesn’t feel like it is far away.”
Beveridge will have husband and coach Keil on the bag. “I’ve also got my folks coming down and I’m looking forward to getting some home support this week and seeing what we can do,” she said.
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