European Tour gears up for Open at Loch Lomond
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2006 Scottish Open | Preview | 13 Jul 2006
In what is arguably the strongest field assembled for this event in recent years, The Barclays Scottish Open will be staged at the Loch Lomond Golf Club just north of Glasgow.
The event is being staged at the layout on the banks of Loch Lomond, the largest inland waterway in Britain, for the eleventh consecutive year with courses such as Gleneagles and Carnoustie used prior to the switch in 1996.
The course at the Loch Lomond Golf Club is a Jay Morrish-Tom Weiskopf designed facility and is located some twenty miles from Glasgow. Amongst several high ranking courses, Weiskopf still considers this one of his best projects.
The problem with a course like Loch Lomond, is that, despite its quality, it does not necessarily provide the ideal lead up to next week’s Open Championship. The contrast between the inland rolling lakeside layout and that which many of this field will face next week at Royal Liverpool is significant but it has not stopped a quality line-up from turning up this week. It is perhaps not all that surprising given that this is a Ryder Cup year and that selection for that team is only a month or so away.
Several of Europe’s leading players are preparing for the Open Championship in their own way by playing the links courses in the Lancashire area or elsewhere to get their game prepared for next week’s challenge, but with a few exceptions, most of Europe’s best will get their game in shape in this event.
Darren Clarke was runner up here last year and last week, at the K Club, played well in stages before a poor last round cost him any chance of contending late in the tournament. He might just make amends this week.
Tim Clark is the defending champion and was fifth in 2004 also. He finished fourth at the Western Open last week and is an even better player than he was twelve months ago as his runner up placing at Augusta would suggest.
Luke Donald was fifth last year and given his current level of consistency then he must be a great chance to win his third European Tour event.
Ernie Els is a two time champion at this event and at any other time would be considered the hot favourite. His recent form has been less than convincing however and it would be surprising if he was to make it three in 2006.
David Howell surprisingly missed the cut at the French Open but his form prior to that, which led him to the top of the European Tour Order of Merit in 2006, has been outstanding.
Sweden’s Carl Petterson, now playing with success on the USPGA Tour, returns to the European tour as part of his preparation for Hoylake. His recent form in the United States includes his stunning win at the Memorial. He has played in this event previously and has put together some good rounds at this course.
Colin Montgomerie has won at Loch Lomond previously and the way he has played since the US Open debacle suggests that he might just do so again. He has been in the mix most weeks in recent months and it would surprise if he wasn’t again this week.
There are many others including the likes of Ian Poulter, Retief Goosen, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Thomas Bjorn all more than capable of winning this event.
The Australians are led by the 1992 winner of this event, Peter O’Malley, who is warming to his task in recent weeks. Marcus Fraser, after a missed cut last week will look to bounce back to the sort of form that saw him finish third in France two weeks ago, Mark Hensby searching for the game that has gone missing in 2006, Brett Rumford, Peter Fowler, Matthew Millar and 1995 winner Wayne Riley are here.
