Mickelson raring to go
Phil Mickelson insists he is looking forward to this week’s Barclays Scottish Open, even though it is still unclear whether the event serves as good preparation for the British Open.
The high-quality field gathered at Loch Lomond – those with places in the Open at least – are all hoping it is, and Mickelson speaks highly of the £2.4m (€3.5m) event.
“I always look forward to going back to Loch Lomond. It’s really an enjoyable event: quality competition the week before the Open Championship, a really fun course to play and some of the most knowledgeable fans we see all year,” the American said.
Mickelson was one of the star attractions of last year’s event.
Masters champion and runner-up in the US Open, his mind was clearly on the coming major rather than the warm-up and he missed the cut before coming up just one shot short of the play-off between Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els nine days later.
Mickelson is back this time, but not with the same spotlight on him.
The left-hander was 10th in his defence of the Masters and then only 33rd at the US Open last month.
Defending champion Thomas Levet cannot speak too highly of what the event did for him. After taking the Scottish title 12 months ago with a closing 63 – the joint lowest round of his career – he followed it up with a strong challenge at Royal Troon before finishing fifth.
Els, the 2003 winner, finished only 18th at Sandwich, however, and before him Eduardo Romero moved across to Muirfield and missed the halfway cut.
For Retief Goosen, victory in 2001 was followed by an 18th-place finish at Royal Lytham and after Els won for the first time prior to that he travelled to St Andrews and came joint-second, albeit a distant eight behind Tiger Woods.
The jury is out then, but the fact that nobody has done the double yet indicates how tall an order it is.
Loch Lomond stages the tournament for the 10th successive year with a record prize fund.
The figure of £2.4m (€3.5m) represents an increase of £200,000 (€295,300), with the first prize of £400,000 (€590,700) being £33,340 (€49,200) more than Levet pocketed when he came from seven behind – the same as Kenneth Ferrie in the European Open in the K Club on Sunday – to pip new US Open champion Michael Campbell.
Another former winner is American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman. He was Open champion when he captured the title in 1997 and commented: “I am truly delighted to be back. It’s a great tournament and one that holds very special memories for me.”
Justin Rose, playing in Europe for the first time this year, is one of the band of golfers hoping to grab the spot in the Open that goes to the leading non-exempt player on Sunday night.
