THE European Tour's top brass walked in the shadow of Mary Queen of Scots yesterday when they paid a visit to Edinburgh Castle to reveal details of a Scottish Open rescue package worth £8.5m.
There had been concerns that the event might ultimately suffer a similar fate to her royal personage who once resided at the capital's most famous landmark.
But neither the event nor the venue is in danger of being axed in the foreseeable future after Aberdeen Asset Management was confirmed as the new sponsor.
The Scottish government is also putting up £2m over three years as part of the sponsorship package, with the investment company providing the balance of the cash.
Prize money for this summer's event has been set at £2.5m, rising to £3m the following year and again in 2013 – considerably more than might have been on offer had the European Tour been left footing the bill for the tournament at Castle Stuart after long-time sponsor Barclays pulled out.
George O'Grady, the European Tour chief executive, stated that the Scottish Open is secured for the next three years, at least. But the future of the tournament was clearly under threat after it emerged that a rival bidder had offered to sponsor the Scottish Open for one year only in exchange for being guaranteed the prime date to stage a tournament abroad.
O'Grady also ruled out Donald Trump's new multi-million pound links outside Aberdeen as a possible venue within the three-year time span announced yesterday.
He said: "We have an option to continue at Castle Stuart for one more year after this and the design of the course is exactly right for the week before the Open, in the sense that it is not punishing.
"It is a very good golf course, but it is generous off the tee, like St Andrews, and the players were enraptured about it. Castle Stuart was very successful overall with big attendances in spite of the bad weather, but we will analyse it after we play this year and take a decision then.
"There may be other business reasons for going to a different venue and any Open Championship venue and all other courses with the right type of access would be in contention.
"Donald Trump's course is staggeringly good and opens for play on July 1, but while the infrastructure is currently being worked on, he has not started building the clubhouse or hotel. What he and I have agreed is that when we both think the time is right, we will go there."
Meanwhile, Paul Lawrie has declared himself fit for next week's Masters after recovering from a particularly nasty bout of bronchitis.
The former Open champion, who is returning to Augusta after an absence of eight years, fell ill at the Cadillac Championship earlier this month and he said: "I felt it coming on before I left for Miami and I should really have gone to the doctor for antibiotics."
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