European Tour event coming to Murcar

[Brian_Ewen]

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/sport/golf/european-tour-event-coming-to-aberdeen-1.682966

European Tour event coming to Aberdeen
BY ALAN BROWN, 14 NOV 2014
THE likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Stephen Gallacher could be heading to Aberdeen next year for another European Tour event.

Murcar Links is to host the  inaugural Saltire Paul Lawrie Match Play from July 30-August 2 next year.

A total of 64 of the leading players on the European Tour will battle it out as part of the Race to Dubai.

It could give North-east golf fans the chance to see Ryder Cup heroes battling it with local hero Lawrie in the event, which will have a prize purse of £1 million.

Former Open champion Lawrie is  delighted  such a prestigious tournament is coming to the area.

"It's fantastic to be bringing another European Tour event to my home town of Aberdeen.

"Match play is a format that we don't get to play too often on Tour and so it's an exciting opportunity for an elite knockout tournament to come to Scotland.

"I'm extremely grateful to Mike Loggie of Saltire Energy for sharing my vision with this and for coming on board as the event's title sponsor as without the backing of such sponsors none of this would be possible."

George o'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, said: "Paul has been a strong and loyal supporter of the European Tour over the past three decades.

"As well as one of our finest players and ambassadors.

"We are therefore delighted that he is putting something back into the game at the highest level of European golf with this new event on top of the commendable work he does at grassroots through the Paul Lawrie Foundation."

This year, Aberdeen golf fans were able to see their heroes in the Scottish Open, which was played at Royal Aberdeen and won by Justin Rose.

[jeffwarne]

Great news.
Amazing how many skip this course which I enjoyed more than its neighbor.
Here's  hoping the only changes are stupid way back tees-though I'd guess those were already built to attract the event

[Brian_Ewen]

Shame that it clashes with the Ladies Open at Turnberry.

[Thomas Dai]

Congratulations to them and to Paul Lawrie. A fine course, nowhere near the class of over the fence RAGC, and CB is also superior, but Murcar is a fine course in it's own right with some cracking holes especially during the early/mid part of the round. I imagine they'll be a few par-4's driven when the event is held, although 2 weeks after The Open is a curious choice of date - will US based players still be in Europe? Perhaps this event kinda explains the 2015 full greenfees of £100 midweek and £126 at weekends mentioned on another thread recently.
Good luck and best wishes to the event.
atb

[Adrian_Stiff]

The bad news is with a £1,000,000 purse it will end up with most of the best players not supporting it. Wales Open gets the thumbs down. A lot of pro's play for 3 weeks then take a week off usually coinciding with a lesser event or difficult one to get to. Hope I am wrong, nice to see a new event for the UK.

[Brian_Ewen]

Perhaps this event kinda explains the 2015 full greenfees of £100 midweek and £126 at weekends mentioned on another thread recently.

Members assure me, that its all about prestige, and attracting tourists.

[Paul Gray]

A step in the right direction.....

[jeffwarne]

Bump


looks quite good on TV
I enjoyed it quite a bit when I played it years ago

[Alan Ritchie]

I agree, really impressed on my only visit here especially with the front 9. should be a good match play course and probably a lot of birdies if it stays calm. 

[Brent Hutto]

On TV the 13th hole looks like it would be great fun wind or no wind.

And what do you call those tall flowers with the purple blossoms?

[David_Tepper]

"And what do you call those tall flowers with the purple blossoms?"

Brent -

If it looked like this, it is rosebay willow herb:

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/rosebay-willowherb

It blooms wild all over the place in northern Scotland towards the end of the summer.

DT

[JJShanley]

The scorecard provided by EuropeanTour.com suggests the course plays at 6,400 yards this week. 

[Garrett McKnight]

It's great to see Murcar get some love. Played it in June after an AM round at Royal Aberdeen. I must say of the 15 courses I played during my trip, Murcar was the toughest. It's not in the same class design-wise as some of the great links course in the UK. However, it's a really tough test with really narrow and uneven fairways. It's a beast in the wind. The 14th hole was the toughest hole we played all trip.


It makes for a great side round if you are playing Cruden and Royal Aberdeen.