Tartan Tour aids next generation

THREE of the events on the 2011 Tartan Tour schedule, which was announced at Gleneagles yesterday by an upbeat PGA Scottish Region, have come about through young professionals at clubs showing some initiative by putting the wheels in motion to fix up sponsorship.

Ian Colquhoun, at Dundonald Links, and Chris Currie, at Caldwell, were the driving forces behind two events for fledgling pros being launched at their respective clubs last year and they are being repeated again this season along with a brand-new tournament at Craigielaw.

With the return of the Royal Dornoch Masters - it fell off the schedule last year - it means the Young Pros' Order of Merit this season will consist of six events, providing decent opportunities for the next generation of PGA professionals in the home of golf to cut their competitive teeth.

"It is great to see young guys taking an active interest in trying to strengthen that part of our schedule," said Michael MacDougall, secretary of the PGA Scottish Region. "Ian and Chris were responsible for the events starting at their clubs and now Ryan Buckley is doing likewise at Craigielaw. They are the people who are making initial contact with potential sponsors - in some cases wealthy members - and then introducing them to us, which is certainly helpful."

The Royal Dornoch event has been re-named as the 'Sandy Pipey Memorial Masters', while the Young Professionals' Championship, won last year by Elie's David Patrick, will again return to West Lothian in early September as part of a three-year agreement.

"People often forget about the young professionals' scene, which is where Paul Lawrie, amongst many others, started his career," added MacDougall. "It is critical that we strengthen that and one tournament a month (during the season] would be ideal."

The Tour's flagship event, the Scottish PGA Championship, will again be held over the Kings Course at Gleneagles, where Chris Doak lifted the title in October. The Northern Open is also staying at the same venue, Meldrum House, though it has been moved three weeks forward to the end of August.

As reported in The Scotsman last month, a new addition to the schedule is a 54-hole invitational event being hosted by Paul Lawrie, who has secured Deeside as its venue, sponsorship from Aberdeen Asset Management, the Marcliffe Hotel and Saltire Energy as well as a TV highlights package on Sky Sports.

The event, to be held in mid-June though an exact date has not yet been confirmed, will carry a 25,000 prize fund, with a 66-strong field likely to include a handful of amateurs, a process that will again be repeated in the Northern Open, which was boiling up nicely last year until the final two rounds were washed out.

On Lawrie's event, MacDougall said: "Paul has been a long-term supporter of the PGA in Scotland and has been thinking for some time about how he can re-engage with us and how he can best use his influence for the benefit of his fellow professionals.

"The field will consist of Tartan Tour regulars, hopefully some European Tour campaigners and those players who find themselves in limbo, not playing on the top Tour."

While acknowledging the Scottish circuit boasted a prize fund of around 700,000 five years ago, MacDougall said he was happy to be unveiling a schedule worth about 600,000 - a 25,000 increase on the pot in 2010.

In addition to the Scottish Championship and Northern Open, the main Tartan Tour Order of Merit will again consist of three other established events - the Deer Park Masters, a two-day event at Dumfries & Galloway and the WaterAid 36-holer, a venue for which has yet to be finalised.

In a change to the Sprint Series, which was launched last year, it will consist of four qualifiers this time around with the final also offering Order of Merit points. "It was popular [in 2010] but the change will help raise its stature," noted MacDougall.

While the full schedule of one-day pro-ams won't be finalised until the start of the season in April, two new events - at Aberdour and Moray - have already been confirmed while the Tartan Tour caravan will also be returning to Strathaven and Esporta Dougalston, two venues that had dropped off the fixture list.