It’s not easy winkling out words on a daily basis, you know. “This writing business, it takes up a helluva time,” said Alex Salmond, the former First Minister, as he informed the golf scribes about the progress of his second book on last year’s referendum.
He’s still got time for a hit about on the links, of course, and his appearance in the Pro-Am side of last week’s Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open – and event he described as a “real breakthrough” in terms of raising awareness of the illness - also gave the 60-year-old the opportunity to chew the fat on the game in this neck of the woods.
The obvious subject to touch on was the Scottish Open, the domestic showpiece that was saved from disappearing off the golfing radar by the Scottish Government and the backing of title sponsors, Aberdeen Asset Management, in 2011.
“I do hope and believe that the Scottish Open will become the second biggest links tournament on earth after the Open,” he said of a championship that continues to grow in stature and strength. After a successful staging at Gullane this year, the event will move back north to Castle Stuart next season. And after that? Well, that’s an area of sizeable debate. Donald Trump had brashly declared that his Menie links near Aberdeen would be staging the Scottish Open in 2017, 2019 and 2020, a development that would have gone against the ethos of a yearly rotation that had proved popular.
But then Trump controversially spouted off about Mexican immigrants, the backlash began and various sponsors and golfing bodies, notably the PGA of America, distanced themselves from him. “It’s not my decision, but I would have thought Mr Trump’s odds are lengthening as far as these matters are concerned,” added Salmond on the prospect of the Scottish Open going there. “Obviously the American PGA made a decision, a quite understandable decision. Politics is a rough old trade, as Mr Trump will find out. Sometimes you can say things when you’re a television star but not necessarily when you’re a politician. Look, let’s talk positively. There’s absolutely no doubt that it (Menie) is a great golf course. But there are things to consider in the fullness of time. I’m not going to comment on Trump’s course, because I’m sure that’s a decision for other people. But I do support it going round, as it was meant to be. I’m very confident that Nicola (Sturgeon) will make the right decisions, and I’m confident that the tour will also. Speaking to the tour people, they are all very happy with the Scottish Open.”
Salmond, who also helped to put in place the Scottish Open qualifying event in partnership with Aberdeen Asset, continues to hold the finance firm’s chief executive, Martin Gilbert, in high regard. From the men’s and women’s amateur scene to both male and female European Tours, Gilbert continues to invest in the game at all levels.
“He was the one who had the guts and the gumption to say ‘yes’,” added Salmond, as he reflected on the frantic search for a sponsor for the Scottish Open during trying financial times four years ago. “His decision to do that has been fully vindicated. If I were still First Minister and went round the 10 companies that I phoned (as potential sponsors then) I bet two-thirds of them would want to sponsor the Scottish Open now. Martin was the man with the money. I had good thoughts, but he had good money. His decision to do that (sponsor it) has been fully vindicated.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here