Next year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald Links will feature the highest prize fund on the Ladies European Tour outside of the major championships.

The domestic showpiece, which will be staged the week before the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns, will boast a vastly increased purse of £1.2 million and will sit on both the European and LPGA Tours.

Instead of a Dunhill Links-style Pro-Am affair, the Scottish Open has reverted to a traditional 72-holer with a full field of 156 players.

Given the money on offer, and its prime position in the schedule, the championship should attract the world’s finest female golfers to Ayrshire.

Lydia Ko, the global No 1 on the women’s scene, played in the Scottish Open in 2015 when the Women’s British Open was staged at Turnberry the following week.

The New Zealander is likely to return to the west coast again next year to fine tune her links game ahead of her assault on the British Open at Kingsbarns.

Dundonald Links will host both the men’s and women’s Scottish Opens in a three week spell next summer. The total prize money on offer in both events will be almost £7 million. Earlier this week it was announced that the men’s Scottish Open would see its prize fund rocket to £5.6 million after it was included on the European Tour’s new Rolex Series.