The Scottish Open, which has been sponsored by Barclays Capital since 2002, is one of the richer golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is currently played at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Argyll and Bute to the North of Glasgow. The tournament takes place the week before The Open Championship, and some concern has been expressed that the host course, which is very different from the links courses on which the Open is played, puts European Tour players at a disadvantage in the subsequent major, compared to their leading rivals from the PGA Tour, who traditionally spend a week practising for the Open on links courses in Ireland. There is a possibility that the event will move to the Dundonald links course in Ayrshire in the future, which is owned by the same company as Loch Lomond, but in 2006 the company's chief executive Keith Williams commented, "From our point of view, we would also perhaps regard Dundonald as being three years away from hosting a championship of this calibre." The Scottish Open was first held in 1972 at Downfield Golf Club near Dundee, but after the second event at St Andrews in 1973 there was a twelve year hiatus before its return to the European Tour calendar in 1986, replacing the Glasgow Open. The tournament was held at Haggs Castle Golf Club in its first year back, before moving to Gleneagles until 1994. It was then hosted at Carnoustie for two years, but it was to disappear from the calendar again following the 1996 season. Its place on the European Tour schedule from 1997 was taken by the Loch Lomond World Invitational, which had been first held the previous year. From 2001, it was decided that the Loch Lomond event would be known as the Scottish Open, and all prior editions would be granted Scottish Open status which resulted in the anomaly of having two champions in 1996. In 1972 the prize fund was £10,000, and by 2008 it had increased to £3 million, making it the largest in a European Tour event that is not co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour.
Past Winners Barclays Scottish Open . 2009 Martin Kaymer . 2008 Graeme McDowell . 2007 Grégory Havret . 2006 Johan Edfors . 2005 Tim Clark . 2004 Thomas Levet . 2003 Ernie Els . 2002 Eduardo Romero The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond . 2001 Retief Goosen Standard Life Loch Lomond . 2000 Ernie Els . 1999 Colin Montgomerie . 1998 Lee Westwood Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational . 1997 Tom Lehman Loch Lomond World Invitational . 1996 Thomas Bjørn Scottish Open . 1996* Ian Woosnam . 1995 Wayne Riley Bell's Scottish Open . 1994 Carl Mason . 1993 Jesper Parnevik . 1992 Peter O'Malley . 1991 Craig Parry . 1990 Ian Woosnam . 1989 Michael Allen . 1988 Barry Lane . 1987 Ian Woosnam . 1986 David Feherty Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open . 1973 Graham Marsh . 1972 Neil Coles * - Two events held in 1996
