Moray to host Scottish Open qualifier
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MORAY Golf Club had been chosen to host a qualifier for this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
Five places for the European Tour event – which returns to Castle Stuart this year – and a prize fund of approximately £50,000 will be up for grabs at the Lossiemouth links course over 36 holes on July 2 and 3.
Moray will become only the second course to stage a qualifying event for the Scottish Open, following the success of the inaugural qualifier in East Lothian last year.
The five lowest scoring players over two rounds of the Lossie course will win the chance to play in a tourney which has been won by Ryder Cup stars Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson in the last three years.
Moray has in the recent past staged a televised PGA EuroPro Tour competition – European golf’s leading developmental tour – and last year played host to a Paul Lawrie Foundation Junior Jug event involving some of the top young golfers in Scotland.
The Scottish Open qualifier is held over the weekend before the start of the Castle Stuart competition, which is played over four days beginning on July 7.
Moray’s qualifying event, staged in association with Visit Scotland, The European Tour and the PGA, will offer more Scottish players the chance to play in their national open.
The first chapter at North Berwick in 2015 produced a golfing fairytale, as local amateur Calum Hill claimed one of the places on offer in the main event at nearby Gullane as he raised his game to finish in the top five.
"The inaugural Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open qualifier was a great success last year and we are looking forward to building on that when the event is held this year at Moray Golf Club," said PGA in Scotland secretary Shona Malcolm.
"We are fortunate to be staging the event once again at one of Scotland’s top links courses and will continue to do so."
Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, added: "Aberdeen are proud to support Scottish golf at all levels of the game, so to continue to provide this opportunity to up and coming golfers is very important to us.
"The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart itself offers four prized spots at this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon. What a story it would be if a Scottish player was to make it through this qualifying event at the fantastic Moray Golf Club."
Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland, added: "In Scotland we pride ourselves on the fact that golf is an inclusive sport and one that is open to all. Giving golfers the chance to qualify to play in their national open is a prime example of that as well as giving us an opportunity to showcase Moray Golf Club, yet another wonderful links course in Scotland, the Home of Golf."
The criteria will be the exactly same as last year, with a field of 144 being made up of exempt PGA players plus others PGA members and assistant professionals that enter, assuming they have Scottish nationality under the PGA’s eligibility requirements or are currently employed at a golf club in Scotland.
A number of amateurs will again be nominated by Scottish Golf while some sponsor’s invitations will also be issued.
For more on this story, see Friday's Northern Scot print edition.
