Dundonald is in its prime and a fitting venue for Scots showpiece
THE big names are coming and the stage that awaits is fitting for a memorable week at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
Dundonald Links was quiet yesterday, aside from European Tour staff making last-minute tinkerings to the staging and a trickle of pros turning up for their first look at the place.
When the rest start arriving this morning they won’t be disappointed by the course that awaits.
In many ways this is a step into the unknown as much for the organisers as the world-class field including Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar.
For as much as this stretch of Ayrshire coastline has a rich golf heritage, with Royal Troon and Turnberry just down the road, Dundonald has never hosted anything of the scale we’ll see this week.
But a wander around the site yesterday suggests the course is ready for it.
Framed by the big grandstands and the wispy rough giving real definition to its rumpled fairways, the course has never looked better and early feedback from the players yesterday was positive.
Now it’s a case of filling the stands with people and hopes are high that the return of the tournament to the west of Scotland for the first time in seven years will see bumper crowds.
In years gone by the Scottish Open was a huge draw for punters flocking to the banks of Loch Lomond with attendances nudging 80,000 on one particularly sunny week.
Now with Dundonald handily placed, just a short train ride from Glasgow, it’s anticipated that the crowd numbers will be significantly up again compared to recent years at Royal Aberdeen, Gullane and Castle Stuart.
The stellar field – which is arguably the best you’ll see on the European Tour outside the Majors – would provide enough reason to entice golf lovers.
But more is being done outside the ropes to lure a previously untapped potential fan base.
Bands will provide entertainment in the tented village and tonight’s Hero Challenge, taking place from 7.30pm, will offer an exciting fresh way to enjoy golf.
Open champion Stenson and Scots star Russell Knox will head an eight-man group of pros battling it out in a one-hole knockout challenge, hitting from a specially-constructed platform.
Expect flames shooting to the sky and pumping beats as the European Tour’s concept to expand golf’s appeal gets its second airing after a successful trial at last year’s British Masters. It should be a good night to set the tone for what will hopefully be the successful week Dundonald
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