The Scottish Open is one of the greatest tournaments in golf and has gone from strength to strength over recent years after becoming co-sanctioned by both the DP World and PGA Tours.
The link-up between the two biggest traditional men’s circuits has bolstered the tournament’s prize fund and also strengthened the field, with this year’s Genesis Scottish Open boasting eight of the world’s top 10 players including all of the top five.
And while the event’s stature cannot be questioned, one aspect that has raised some eyebrows in recent years is its home base. East Lothian’s Renaissance Club has hosted the event since 2017, with this year’s event being the seventh consecutive Scottish Open taking place there.
The Renaissance Club is a stunning venue that offers up good links preparation before The Open, but should a national Open remain at the same venue each and every year?
The country is the ‘home of golf’ and the best golf courses in Scotland are some of the world’s oldest and greatest, so rotating it around different venues would certainly spice the event up and add something to the Scottish Open. Moving courses each year is very common among other national Opens, too.
The Scottish Open staying at one venue for a prolonged period of time is nothing new, however, as Gleneagles hosted it eight consecutive years across the 80s and 90s while Loch Lomond hosted 15 consecutive tournaments from the 90s all the way to 2009.
So if the Scottish Open were to start going to different venues each and every year, which ones would we like to see?
Trump Turnberry
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Turnberry’s Ailsa Course is one of the best in the UK and Ireland – and the entire world – so seeing a Scottish Open there would be fantastic.
It has hosted four Opens but none since 2009 due to various reasons but the R&A has maintained that it hopes to host the world’s oldest Major there again someday.
A lot has changed at Turnberry since 2009 so a Scottish Open would be a good test to see how the facility and road networks cope with a major golf event.
Loch Lomond (and other past hosts)
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
I personally would love to see the Scottish Open return to Loch Lomond as it is the venue I remember watching as a child. Sure it’s not a links course but it’s a stunning venue…
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