The fourth Rolex Series event of the season sees the European Tour’s Race to Dubai touch down on Scottish soil for the first time in 2017 as a star-studded field including four of the world’s top ten travel to Dundonald Links for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. Here’s the lowdown…
Rewind
Alex Noren arrived at last year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open as the 99th player in the world. This week he arrives as World Number Nine.
An incredible rise to the top of the world game began at Castle Stuart when the Swede put on an incredible display of skill and grit in equal measure to claim a one-stroke victory over Englishman Tyrrell Hatton – whose runner-up finish also proved a Launchpad for a rise up the Official World Golf Rankings.
Noren had entered the final day with a two-shot lead over Hatton and he remained at the summit of the leaderboard for the entirety of the final day before closing out with a par to sign for a two-under par 70 and a 14 under total.
The victory proved the beginning of a whirlwind season for Noren as he went on to claim three more victories before the end of the year, at the Omega European Masters, the British Masters supported by Sky Sports and the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
The field
Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott are among the many luminaries to join defending champion Noren at the picturesque Dundonald Links this week for the fourth of eight Rolex Series events on the Race to Dubai schedule.
They lead a who’s who list of many the European Tour’s biggest stars, including Hatton, Bernd Wiesberger, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Branden Grace, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ross Fisher, Martin Kaymer and Jeunghun Wang.
A number of American superstars also make the journey as part of their preparation for The Open Championship, with Fowler joined by World Number 17 Matt Kuchar, 2016 Ryder Cup hero Patrick Reed as well as a pair of Major winners in Stewart Cink and Jason Dufner.
Russell Knox leads the home contingent as the highest-ranked Scot in the field, while Richie Ramsay and David Drysdale will arrive home with a spring in their step having both qualified for The Open Championship courtesy of incredible final-round performances at last week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation.
Paul Lawrie is joined in the field by fellow Major winners Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Trevor Immelman, among many others.
The course
Located near the town of Irvine, Dundonald Links is one of a string of world-class links courses stretched along the Ayrshire coast in what can only be described as one of the world’s greatest golfing destinations.
The 7,242-yard, par 72 layout was designed by the highly-acclaimed golf course architect Kyle Phillips, whose creations also include Kingsbarns, one of the three venues for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and The Grove, which last year hosted the British Masters supported by Sky Sports for the first time.
Since being acquired by Loch Lomond Golf Club in February 2003, Dundonald Links has played host to numerous professional and amateur tournaments, including the European Tour Qualifying School First Stage, a qualifier for the Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex and, most recently, the last two editions of the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open.
Next week it hosts the ladies’ event once again when it is co-sanctioned between the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour for the first time.
After hosting the 2015 Ladies Scottish Open, which featured World Number One Lydia Ko and Solheim Cup player Suzann Pettersen, the club’s owners devised plans for a structural overhaul which included the construction of a new clubhouse.
On the course itself, under the guidance of Kyle Phillips, several of the greens have been increased in size and three of the putting surfaces have been levelled in selected areas to soften their contours, thereby providing organisers with more options when setting up for tournament play.
Did you know?
- The 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open will be the 35th staging of the event, first played in 1972 and won by Neil Coles, after defeating Brian Huggett in a play-off.
- Since the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open began, the tournament has been held on the week prior to The Open Championship. This was in 1986, when the Car Care Plan International was the event before The Open. (The 1986 Scottish Open was played in August at Haggs Castle).
- Defending champion Alex Noren will be aiming to create history this year with consecutive wins at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open – no player has ever achieved this feat. Noren went on to win four European Tour titles following his one-stroke victory at Castle Stuart Golf Links in 2016 - the Omega European Masters (2016), British Masters supported by Sky Sports (2016), Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player (2016), and BMW PGA Championship (2017).
- The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open has produced 31 different winners from 14 different countries. Of those 30, eight have been Major Champions.
- Players from eight different countries have lifted the trophy in the last ten years – Sweden (Alex Noren), USA (Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson), England (Justin Rose, Luke Donald), India (Jeev Milkha Singh), Italy (Edoardo Molinari), Germany (Martin Kaymer), Northern Ireland (Graeme McDowell), France (Gregory Havret).
- The field for the 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open contains 12 Major winners – Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Martin Kaymer, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson.
- 18 of the world’s top 50 will tee it up at Dundonald Links (as at June 19).
- Phil Mickelson created history when he won at Castle Stuart in 2013 by becoming the first player to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and then go on to win The Open Championship.
- Dundonald Links has previously hosted Senior Open Qualifying (2012), the Boys Amateur Championship (2014) and the Ladies Scottish Open (2016).
- This is the first year that both the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and Ladies Scottish Open will be hosted at the same venue. The ladies event takes place at Dundonald Links from July 27-30.
