ORGANISERS OF THE Scottish Open have received a boost with the news that four-time major winner Phil Mickelson will compete in this week’s event.
The Californian golfer is a late addition to a field that contains world number one, Luke Donald, and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.
Mickelson missed the cut at the Greenbrier Classic on Friday, along with Tiger Woods, and asked his management team to look into securing him a spot in the playing field at Stuart’s Castle in Aberdeen.
“We got a phone call last night from Phil’s management company saying he’d very much like to play at Castle Stuart,” Scottish Open tournament director Peter Adams told Scotland on Sunday.
“They asked if we had any invitations left and we did. All the parties on the invitation committee were obviously unanimously in favour of Phil getting an invitation and he is a terrific addition to the field.”
Close call
Mickelson, who is currently ranked at number 16 in the world, lost a play-off for the Scottish Open title at Loch Lomond in 2007 when he was edged out by Gregory Harvet of France.
He has been on a poor run of form as of late and finished in 65th position at the US Open.
Martin Kaymer of Germany has also been confirmed for the event as well as local favourites Martin Laird and Paul Lawrie.
Meanwhile, Harrington has told the Daily Record in Scotland that he has returned to his best form in years but would like a tournament win to ease some ‘external pressures’. He said:
This year, if you played the Irish Open and now you’re going to play the Scottish Open then you have two great chances to get eight rounds of competitive links golf.
“I think that’s the best preparation you can get for playing The Open because links golf is just not the same game as what we normally play.”
The winner’s cheque for this year’s British Open at Royal Lytham will be approximately €1,135,000. The total prize purse for the event, starting on 19 July, is €6.3m.
