70,000 people expected at Castle Stuart
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CASTLE Stuart officials expect to welcome more than 70,000 spectators to the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open — the highest attendance since 2009.
But championship director Peter Adams does not believe it will surpass the European Tour’s record of 112,000 fans at Irish Open two weeks ago.
Event sponsors and Tour officials insist they will not decide on whether the links course will host next year’s event until after the tournament ends on Sunday but much of that decision may be influenced by how popular the venue is to spectators.
“We are really pleased to be back,” Adams said. “I hope there will be good conditions and the weather forecast is positive.
“All of our focus is going into this year’s tournament and we have the option to come back but no decision will be made yet and there is no timeline on when that decision will be made.
“The Irish Open was the first European Tour event to be a sell out so my message to the Scottish spectators would be to show your support to your national open and get behind this golf tournament.
“We are not anticipating 100,000 people but we would encourage as many people as possible to come along and enjoy what is going to a great tournament with great players.”
Events at Loch Lomond drew annual crowds of more than 80,000 people from 2006 to 2009 but dropped to 67,750 in 2010.
Castle Stuart staged the event for the first time last year, attracting 51,340 onlookers despite being forced to abandon the whole of the Saturday play due to torrential rain damaging the course.
More than £70,000 has been splashed out on improvements to drainage in a bid to avoid a repeat of disruption if wet weather arrives today or over the weekend but Castle Stuart’s sales and marketing director Fraser Cromarty is hopeful fans will brave the elements.
“This Saturday we could potentially get 20,000 spectators because it is the real day for the numbers to flock and if we get decent weather throughout then I don’t have any worries about getting in excess of 70,000 people.”
> More in Friday's Courier
