Top officials helping Castle Stuart stage Scottish Open
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THE hope is that the partnership being forged between Castle Stuart and the European Tour can ultimately deliver a successful debut for the Barclays Scottish Open in the Highlands.
It is a working relationship very much in its infancy, but two of the men with important roles to play in terms of making sure it blossoms have a decade of experience to call upon when it comes to the preparing and executing of major tournaments.
Peter Adams, championship director, and operations director Ben Watson have worked together with the European Tour since 2001 and are well versed in what it takes to put on an event of this magnitude.
“We’ve worked with each other for 10 years now, so I suppose it’s like a marriage in some way,” said Adams, a wry smile creeping across his face. “It’s had its ups and downs.”
Those at Castle Stuart will be hoping that it is a marriage made in heaven as preparations march on in earnest for the links course to host the Scottish Open between 7-10th July.
Both Adams and Watson have already dedicated much of their time to establishing the infrastructure required to help Castle Stuart put in place plans to cope with an expected 50,000 people that will descend upon the venue throughout the four days of competition.
“Everything has gone very well so far,” said Adams. “However, from myself and Ben’s perspective we have other tournaments to try and organise as well.
“Given the shorter timescale then perhaps other events have taken a little bit of a back seat to put this together.”
The job, however, has been made easier by an ever-willing and ready team at Castle Stuart, who have put in the work to ensure that Inverness and the Highlands can enjoy what is shaping up to me a memorable sporting occasion.
“I can’t stress enough how helpful everyone at Castle Stuart has been,” said Watson. “You only need to have a look around the place to see that a huge amount of work has been put in to make all this happen.
“When you do something like this, you have to be given the backing and we’ve certainly received that from the Highland community. You really get the sense they are right behind it.”
It is not common practice for new courses to be given the chance to host a competition on the European Tour, certainly not for a good few years anyway, but for Adams and Watson it was instantly recognisable that Castle Stuart had everything required to do just that.
It may be two years ago that the links course officially opened to the world, yet Adams insists you could easily mistake the venue for having lived alongside the banks of the Moray Firth for far longer.
“If you go and play Castle Stuart then it has that look and feel that it’s been here for years,” said Adams. “It’s clearly been very well designed.
“When you take everything into account then it’s absolutely ready to stage a big tournament.”
Castle Stuart takes over the mantle of the Scottish Open from Loch Lomond, who provided a visually stunning backdrop to the event for 15 years.
Both men are in agreement that Castle Stuart can at the very least match its predecessor when it comes to the aesthetics, but the challenge for Watson is can it deliver something that will impress the spectators as much as it has the European Tour.
“We had a wonderful spell at Loch Lomond,” he said. “However, at the end of the tournament we didn’t just put it in a box and then bring it out again the following year.
“We were constantly tweaking things and saying how could we change it and make it better.
“Ultimately, we are in the leisure industry and what we have to think about is what we can do to give people a fun day out.
“Putting on an event like this isn’t a one-off. It’s ongoing and what we have to do is constantly thinking how we can give people the best possible experience.”
That, however, will come when the European Tour departs from Castle Stuart. The more immediate focus lends itself to the task at hand, but Adams is happy that with around a month to go they are on schedule.
“The stands are now beginning to go up, but over the next few weeks there will be a huge amount of activity at Castle Stuart,” he said.
“In terms of being where we want to be at this stage then I think I would say we are.
“We have a schedule and it is going well, so we just look forward to it all coming to a head at the start of next month.”
