The European Tour returns to Gleneagles this week for the Scottish PGA Championship with 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie heading the field.
Lawrie won the Open Championship in outstanding style at Carnoustie when he shot a final round of 67 to come from ten behind to secure a place in the play-off and then birdied the last two holes of the four hole play-off to lift the Auld Claret Jug.
Also in the field for the event, which this year carries a prize fund of £400,000, are Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance and the 1999 Ryder Cup captain Mark James.
Torrance is one of a number of past champions in the field having won the title in its old format on five previous occasions, most recently in 1993. Ross Drummond is a four-time winner of the Championship playing this week.
Raymond Russell, who finished tenth in the Victor Chandler British Masters following his third place finish in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, is also expected to be among the leading challengers.
The Monarch's course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, opened in 1993, hosted the championship last year when Warren Bennett from England won the title after an extra hole play-off against Rolf Muntz of Holland. Bennett is absent this week but Muntz, who claimed his first title by capturing the Qatar Masters returns to the field.
