You could say they have won a watch. As part of the European Tour’s newly-launched Rolex Series, a seven-strong programme of cash-laden events that will make Donald Trump’s gold and diamond door look as cheap as the wobbly-hinged entrance to the outhouse, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald Links in 2017 promises to be quite an occasion.

The domestic showpiece was set to see its prize fund rise to £3.5 million next season but, with the intervention of Rolex as well as a guddle in the European Tour’s savings account, that purse will rocket to a whopping £5.6 million, which is marginally less than you’d pay for one of those fancy tick-tocking timepieces that the sponsors cobble together.

It’s all part of Keith Pelley’s grand plan. The effervescent chief executive of the European Tour has been unrelenting in his ambitious quest to make the circuit a “viable alternative” to the all-powerful PGA Tour in the USA. To have a hope of doing that, the excitable Canadian needs money. And lots of it. This Rolex extravaganza, which will roll the marquee events into one and replace the existing Final Series, is certainly a move in the right direction.

Five of the seven tournaments in this new chain – the BMW PGA Championship, the Irish Open, the Scottish Open, the Italian Open and the Turkish Airlines Open – will all have purses of £5.6 million while the Nedbank Challenge will be £6 million and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship some £6.5 million.

Importantly, the Scottish Open has retained its much-sought after spot in the schedule the week before the Open Championship itself. Organisers of the Rory McIlroy-backed Irish Open, which will be held the week preceding the Scottish event in an terrific trinity of links tournaments, have made no secret of their desires to have that prime spot and, in future, a rotation of that date between the respective venues may yet happen. For the time being, though, it remains in Scottish hands and Ian Colquhoun, the director of golf at Dundonald Links, is eager to make the most of it.

The big-hitters on the circuit will no doubt dip in and out of the series depending on scheduling. McIlroy, for instance, may just play in his own Irish Open, skip the Scottish and then pitch up at the Open. Whatever happens, Colquhoun is relishing the prospect of a world class field descending on Ayrshire and the charm offensive is already underway.

“I invited all the players from Europe, Asia and the US who took part in the Open last year to come along and experience the facility,” said Colquhoun of a course which has successfully staged the Ladies Scottish Open over the past two years. “A few have been already while representatives of Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth have been here scouting the course and the surrounding area. I think we’ll get a great field.

“I know players may skip one or the other but results in the Open in recent years have changed the mind set of players. Five of the last six Open winners, for example, have played in the Scottish Open the week before. With its place in the schedule and now the increased purse, the Scottish Open has huge pulling power.”

On its birl around the country, the Scottish Open will visit the west coast for the first time since Dundonald’s sister course, Loch Lomond, ended its long run as host in 2010. In its pomp on those bonnie banks, almost 90,000 spectators marched through the gates at the Scottish Open. Last year’s event at Castle Stuart near Inverness attracted just 42,000, down some 20,000 on recent stagings at various venues.

The fairly dicey weather, the relative remoteness of Castle Stuart and the fact an Open was on Scottish soil the next week at Royal Troon were all factors in last year’s sharp decline but Colquhoun is convinced that the west will prove to be best in 2017. “We have to look at what Loch Lomond’s attendances were in its day as a target and, generally, events in the west are very well supported,” he added. “The fact the Open is down south next year (at Royal Birkdale) is a benefit for us. When the Open is in Scotland, it can have an impact on the crowds for the Scottish Open. From the European Tour’s perspective, they are optimistic that the figures will be very strong.”