Scotland to stage three European Tour events in 2021 worth $15m
Scotland is set to stage three European Tour events in 2021 worth around $15 million as part of a bumper schedule featuring a minimum of 42 tournaments.
The Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, which is returning to The Renaissance Club in East Lothian for the third year in a row, has retained the circuit’s most- coveted spot the week before The Open on 8-11 July.
It will once again be part of the Rolex Series, which is being reduced to just four events next year but with increased prize-money.
The Scottish Open, as well as the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January and the BMW PGA Championship in September, will carry a prize pot of $8m, with the seasonending DP World Tour Championship in November also rising by $1m to $9m.
The Irish Open and Italian Open are no longer part of the Rolex Series but will carry prize funds of $3m, while the Turkish Airlines Open has dropped off the schedule.
It is believed that Rolex, one of golf ’s biggest supporters, are happy having quality rather than quantity, with four events fitting in nicely with the same number of majors and World Golf Championships.
To be included on that list is huge for the Scottish Open, with a new short-term deal between the event’ s three partners-Aberdeen Standard Investments, the Scottish Government and the Euro - pean Tour - appearing to have been struck after the last contract ended with the 2020 edi--tion won by Englishman Aaron Rai.
The circuit’s second visit of the year to the home of golf will be on 5-8 August for the Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews.
The Fife venue st aged the in augural AXA Scottish Championship in September as par t of a revised schedule for the second half of the 2020 campaign.
Praise was heaped on both the condition and challenge provided by the Torrance Course as Spaniard Adrian Otaegui emerged victorious and it will now have Hero, the Indian motorcycle and scooter manufacturer and one of the circuit’ s strongest supporters in recent years, as the title sponsor.
The Scottish Championship carried a prize fund of around £900,000, but that is set to increase for the Hero Open along with three other events on a UK Swing in July and August.
They are the Wales Op en, which takes place the week after The Open at Royal St George’s, an event still to be confirmed after that, with the English Open, the venue for which has not been revealed, coming after the Hero Open.
Earlier in the year, The Belfry, which was one of the venues for a new UK Swing this season, will stage the Betfred British Masters, with former Masters champion Danny Willett taking on the role as host on this occasion in mid-May. The third and final Scottish leg on the new schedule is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
That was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the $5m pro-am, which was won by Scottish-based Frenchman Victor Perez in 2019, has retained its traditional slot straight after the Ryder Cup in late September.