Ladies Scottish Open to be co-sanctioned by LPGA Tour next year
Friday 18 November 2016 18:20, UK
The Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open will enjoy record prize money next summer after the LPGA Tour agreed to co-sanction the tournament.
The Ladies European Tour negotiated the ground-breaking three-year deal with their LPGA counterparts, with Dundonald Links on the Ayrshire coast hosting both the men's and ladies' Scottish Opens next season.
The ladies' event will now be part of the LPGA Tour schedule for the first time, and it will be played from July 27-30 - the week before the Ricoh Women's British Open at Kingsbarns, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports for the first time in 2017.
The prize fund of US$1.5m will be the highest on the LET outside of the majors, and the tournament will be switched to a standard 72-hole strokeplay event from a pro-am format.
"Scotland is known around the world as the home of golf and host of the world's greatest golf events so it is entirely fitting that the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open stands proudly alongside these world-class tournaments on both the LET and the LPGA," said Paul Bush, director of events at VisitScotland.
"The huge success of the men's Scottish Open taking place the week before The Open provided the inspiration for us to achieve similar success with the Ladies Scottish Open ahead of the Ricoh Women's British Open and these outstanding two weeks will now rival anything the world of golf has to offer.
"This historic agreement underlines Scotland's commitments to women's golf as we look forward to The 2019 Solheim Cup and I would like to pay tribute to both the LET and the LPGA, alongside our partners at Aberdeen Asset Management, for the vision to make this a reality."
LET chief executive officer Ivan Khodabakhsh said: "The Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open is one of our most highly anticipated events and we are pleased to enable our members to compete for a significantly increased prize fund.
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan added: "Given Scotland's rich history in golf, I am excited that the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open will provide an opportunity for the best players in the world to spend two consecutive weeks in Scotland.
"This tournament will be a great lead-in to the Ricoh Women's British Open, and we look forward to strengthening our partnership with the LET, Aberdeen Asset Management, and VisitScotland to bring the world's leading professional women golfers to our Scottish fans and spectators."
