Star-studded Scottish Open line-up set for Castle Stuart
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MAJOR champions Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera have added their names to an already glittering list of stars taking part in the Barclays Scottish Open at Castle Stuart next month.
Entries have now closed for the tournament — to be staged from 7th to 10th July — and a mouth-watering line-up is set to contest the £3 million event, including the world numbers one and two, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood respectively.
Italy’s Edoardo Molinari will defend the title he won at Loch Lomond last year, but he will have to overcome one of the strongest fields in the history of the tournament to claim the £500,000 winner’s cheque again.
Graeme McDowell, the current world number eight and the 2008 Barclays Scottish Open champion, is set to join Americans Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar, presently sixth and seventh respectively in the world rankings, in the line-up, while three-time major champion Padraig Harrington will be vying for his first Scottish Open title.
Kuchar, who has become one of the most consistent players on the US PGA Tour, will be seeking an unprecedented Barclays double at Castle Stuart. Last August, the American Ryder Cup player beat Martin Laird, in a sudden-death shoot-out at The Barclays, the first event in the 2010 FedEx Cup play-off series.
Also in the field will be Ryder Cup captains past and present, with Colin Montgomerie — who led Europe to glory last October — looking for his second Scottish Open win, and José Maria Olazábal, who will take charge for the 2012 contest in America, eyeing his first European Tour victory since 2005.
The confirmation of top names from both sides of the Atlantic will ensure that the event brings the best of world golf to the newest and most northerly venue on The European Tour schedule.
The world ranking will provide a thrilling sub-plot as the tournament unfolds, as Westwood may be able to wrestle back the number one spot he relinquished to Donald at the BMW PGA Championship last month.
"We are delighted to have such a fantastic field for the 2011 Barclays Scottish Open, which features many of the best players in the world," said Peter Adams, tournament director.
"It is a pleasure to be in the magnificent Scottish Highlands for the event and we are very grateful from the warm welcome we have received from the Highland community, who are embracing the tournament.
"It is all set to be great and we are all very much looking forward to it."
* See today’s Courier for more.
