Five additional spots in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and a £50,000 prizefund will be available to Scottish PGA qualified pros in a new qualifying tournament on the eve of the championship.
As promised when it was announced the event would be moving to Gullane this July, the new event at North Berwick on July 4 and 5 will feature a full field of 144 entrants restricted to those with Scottish links by birth or through working in golf.
It will be played over 36 holes with five qualifiers progressing to the Scottish Open, which itself carries three qualifying spots into the Open Championship at St Andrews the following week offering a unique opportunity for Scottish players to access a major championship.
While the majority of the field will come from the PGA’s domestic Tartan Tour, there are opportunities for high-ranking players from PGA EuroPro Tour and six leading amateurs will be nominated by the Scottish Golf Union.
However, players are only eligible to compete if they or their parents are Scottish by birth, are employed as a professional at a Scottish club, and if they have a Scottish-born grandparent while also identified under the PGA membership system to be of Scottish nationality.
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones pronounced the qualifying event as a “superb addition” to the Tartan Tour.
“Our leading players will relish the opportunity to compete for a place in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish open, one of the premier events on the European Tour,” he said.
Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset, said that the new event was part of the company’s support of Scottish golf at all levels.
“We’re proud of our Scottish roots and our support,” he said.
“We are thrilled to be giving promising young Scottish players the opportunity to play in the Scottish Open through this qualifying event.
“What a story it would be if a Scottish player went through to the Open at St Andrews having qualified through North Berwick and through Gullane.”
European Tour chief executive George O’Grady praised the vision of all the Scottish golfing authorities for starting the qualifying event.
“We would like to congratulate Aberdeen Asset, the Scottish Government and VisitScotland for their commitment to creating this event for aspirational Scottish professionals and amateurs,” he said.
“Furthermore I would like to thank Sandy Jones, the SGU’s Hamish Grey and North Berwick Golf Club for embracing this new initiative, which we hope will be well received by golf fans.”