The Scottish Open - preview

The Scottish Open
Castle Stuart Golf Links, Inverness, Scotland
Thursday 7th July - Sunday 10th July
by Michael Barwise


With just a week until the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon, the European Tour returns to the home of golf for The Scottish Open. Castle Stuart plays host to the event after a 3 year absence, and even though the field isn't as star studied as previous years (only four of the world's top 20 are competing this weekend), there are still plenty of big names who'll be hoping to go into the third major of the year with a win under their belt. 


The runners and riders:


Henrik Stenson

Photo: golfchannel.com

As the highest ranked player in the field, Stenson comes into the tournament as favourite. His win at the BMW International Open in Germany two weeks ago was his first win on tour since November 2014 and broke a duck of  13 top-four finishes without a victory. The 40-year-old is still waiting for a first major title, and so will be hoping that a good performance at Castle Stuart this weekend, will put him in good stead to be lifting the claret jug a week on Sunday.




Phil Mickleson

Photo: bleacherreport.com

The last time Castle Stuart played host to The Scottish Open, Phil Mickleson finished top of the leaderboard and would then go on to win The Open at Muirfield the week after. The American's form has been mixed going into this year's tournament, finishing an impressive T2 at the St Jude Classic, but a disappointing performance at the US Open the week after, with the five-time-major winner failing to make the cut. 



Russell Knox

Photo: bbc.co.uk

This event will be extra special for Russell Knox as the US-based Scot returns to compete in his home town, having been brought up in Inverness. A good weekend at the US Open last month will have served him well going into playing conditions to which he is much better suited.






Branden Grace

Photo: cbc.ca

The South African enters this tournament in  blistering form, notching four top 10 finishes in his last five starts. He also has a good history with this course, nearly winning the tournament here back in 2013, only to be beaten by Phil Mickleson in a play-off. 




Shane Lowry

Photo: rte.ie

A links-specialist, Lowry comes into the tournament as one of the favourites. The Irishman is in decent form too, with that T2 finish at the US Open, and although his defence of his Bridgestone title last week didn't go to plan, he was still T5 in the field for collecting birdies.