Legendary American golfer Arnold Palmer is to build his first golf course in Scotland at Castle Stuart on the shores of the Moray Firth and could open it in four years.
The Arnold Palmer Group confirmed it is joining forces with Castle Stuart Golf Links' managing partner Mark Parsinen and his team to collaborate on a spectacular new 18 hole course.
The partnership deal was announced by Arnold Palmer at his Invitational tournament which is being held this week at the golfer's Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida.
The new venture will complement the existing course at Castle Stuart, near Inverness, which has achieved worldwide acclaim since opening in 2009.
It was 56 on Golf Magazine's Top 100 Courses in the World in 2013 and staged the Scottish Open for three successive years from 2011-2013. The 2013 championship, won by Phil Mickelson, reaching a worldwide television audience of more than 500 million, including weekend live coverage on NBC USA.
Plans for the second course will be submitted within two months and it is envisaged work will get underway early next year, ahead of the return of the Scottish Open to Castle Stuart for the fourth time in six years. It is planned to have the new links open for use by 2019.
Palmer, nicknamed The King and winner of seven Majors including successive victories at The Open championship in 1961 and 1962 - the latter at Royal Troon - intends to visit Castle Stuart this summer, ahead of The Open at St Andrews.
He is said to be excited at the prospect of creating a new course as homage to Scotland, the home of golf, and to underline his love of links golf.
Mark Parsinen, who also co-designed Kingsbarns Golf Links in Fife, said; "We have been in discussion for more than a year now with the Arnold Palmer Group and we are delighted that it has joined the partnership at Castle Stuart Golf Links."
The new course will be similar in length to the existing 7,193-yard links and will feature spectacular views across the Moray Firth as well as the 17th century castle which gives the course its name.
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