Lennox in for Scots

Robert Gordon’s College’s Finlay Lennox has been included in one of two Scotland under-16 squads named for next week's 2017 Colwyn Bay Rugby Festival in Wales. The six-day festival will take place at Parc Eirias where 50 players will play fixtures against Welsh sides Dragons, Scarlets and RGC. Open champion Henrik Stenson can’t wait to make his first appearance on Scottish soil since securing the greatest victory of his career when he tees up at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald Links in July.

TheSwedewill return to theAyrshire coast – just six miles from the scene of his first majorwinat Royal Troon – for his 10th Scottish Open appearance as the tournament once more assumes prime position in the week before the Open championship itself at Royal Birkdale in Southport.

The Scottish Open, from July 13 to 16, will also be the third event in the European Tour’s new Rolex Series, apremiumcategory of tournaments each with a minimum prize fund of £5.5million.

Scottish golf followers will be hoping that Stenson will bring his 2016 Open championship form to Dundonald after his unforgettable

“It’s really just down the road from Troon”

contest with five- time major winner Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon.

Stenson went toe-to-toe with Mickelson in a thrilling final round, carding a Sunday 63 to equal the lowest round in major history and also set the lowest aggregate score ever recorded in a major. The showdown drew comparisons with the legendary Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus just along the coast at Turnberry in 1977.

Scotland’s national open has been an invaluable part of Stenson’s preparations for the Open in recent years. A third-place finish at Castle Stuart in2013 propelledhim to runner-up spot at the Open, just behind winner Mickelson. Then, after a two year absence from the ScottishOpen, a13thplace finish in 2016 preceded a role reversal as he pipped Mickelson to lift the Claret Jug.