Renaissance Club to stage 2017 Scottish Senior Open

The Scottish Senior Open is heading for a new venue when it returns to East Lothian for a third year in a row this summer. After two years at Archerfield Links, the event is moving next door to The Renaissance Club for its 25th staging on 4-6 August.

It will be the biggest event to be held on the Tom Doakdesigned course since it opened in 2008, eclipsing the venue having been joint-host of the stroke-play qualifying for last year’s Boys’ Amateur Championship. From next year until 2021, it will become a Final Qualifying venue for the Open Championship.

“We are honoured to have been approached by the European Senior Tour to host the Scottish Senior Open on its 25th anniversary and look forward to welcoming some of the great champions of golf,” said managing director Jerry Sarvadi. “We are confident our links will provide a formidable challenge and an enjoyable experience for all of the participants in the event.”

Paul Broadhurst used victory in the 2015 event at Archerfield Links to become a Senior Open champion at Carnoustie before he was succeeded on the Scottish Senior Open roll of honour by another Englishman, Paul Eales, last August.

“Jerry and the team at The Renaissance Club deserve an opportunity to showcase their world-class facilities,” said David Maclaren, head of the European Senior Tour. “The Renaissance club provides a magnificent golfing experience to its members and their guests, and has quickly established itself as a real gem in one of Scottish golf’s greatest heartlands.”

One downside from the event moving to the first week in August from later in the month is that it clashes directly with the Ricoch Women’s British Open when it visits Kingsbarns Links in Fife for the first time. But Paul Bush, director of events with Visitscotland, insisted: “Events like this one on Scotland’s Golf Coast will only enhance further Scotland’s reputation as the home of golf.”

Meanwhile, the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge is heading back to Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore for the ninth year in a row on 29 June-2 July. It is one of 26 tournaments being staged in 20 countries on the European Tour’s development circuit.