Organisers eye Saturday finish to avoid Wimbledon final clash

along with returns to Royal Aberdeen and Gullane, where the event was held in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

“We would obviously like to go back to Aberdeen and Gullane, which I think did really, really well,” added Gilbert. “We want to take it to good courses, and Kingsbarns [where the Women’s British Open is being held for the first time next year] would be another one we would love to go to. Being live on TV, the pictures are very important for the Scottish Government and Kingsbarns lends itself to that more than most courses.”

Next year’s European Tour schedule is set for a shakeup as Keith Pelley, the new chief executive, makes his mark on the circuit, having hinted that he is keen to see a number of events carrying no matter what Rory says... and this is a better tournament than the Irish Open, I can tell you.”

When the deal securing the event’s future through to 2014 was signed just under two years ago, it was revealed the prize fund will rise to a minimum of £4m in 2018 and Gilbert insists that will happen despite the current challenging economic conditions after the Brexit vote.

“That clearly has an effect, but you know we made £500m last year, so if it does affect our business I hope it’s not that bad that we can’t afford the sponsorship fee of the Scottish Open,” he said. “I don’t know the percentage breakdown of the prize-fund, but the Scottish Government are contributing a significant amount at the moment, especially to the ladies’ game.

“The one we need to build in terms of prizemoney is the Ladies Scottish Open, that’s where we’ll concentrate our efforts over the next few years because we want to get that up to be one of the richest events on the Ladies European Tour.”

It is being held for the second year in a row at Dundonald Links next week and a third visit could be on the cards in 2017, when hopes of attracting the likes of world No 1 Lydia Ko would be high due to the Women’s British Open also being in Scotland the following week.

“We may try and host the two Scottish Opens at the same venue,” revealed Gilbert. “The reason for that is that the infrastructure spend would be considerably less. That then involves finding a venue that’s prepared to take two events and I think Dundonald might agree to that.”