Renaissance beckons for Richie

CARBON’S European Tour ambassador Richie Ramsay is looking forward to teeing-up on home turf this month. He’s on familiar ground at The Renaissance, near Edinburgh, for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open before hopefully heading across the Irish Sea for The Open at Royal Portrush.

“Being Edinburgh-based, I know The Renaissance Club set-up very well. The team there have been very supportive. I’m lucky enough to enjoy access to the gym facilities in between tournaments and I often get out on the course when I am home.

“As ever with coastal courses, the weather will be hugely influential over the four days of competition. The wind direction makes a massive difference to the way the course plays.

“Hopefully the sun will shine for the players and the galleries to show it at its best. The Renaissance is still relatively new so I don’t see it being outrageously firm and fiery. But I would still expect a fair bit of bounce. The real test is around the greens, where it can be quite tricky.

“I always look forward to playing in Scotland and I have always regarded the Scottish Open as a fourth Major in my season.

“It will be good for the guys on Tour to play somewhere different and it’s a venue which will attract the crowds.

“The ASI Scottish Open enjoys a great spot on the schedule, bringing in a swathe of top players from America before they head for The Open at Portrush.

“There will be waves of players with top 50 world rankings and not every tournament on the Tour has fields of that quality.

“It is fantastic for the profile of the ISA Scottish Open and I’m sure the fans will turn out in big numbers to support it, like they did along the road at Gullane last year.

“The Renaissance is a venue which will also be interesting for golf fans because many of them won’t have seen it before.

“Before the Scottish, I am at Lahinch for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and Alistair McKenzie designs usually fit my game.

“There will be good fields and good prize funds in both events leading up to Royal Portrush.

“There will be Open spots up for grabs in Ireland and at The Renaissance. It’s a route I have used successfully before.

“But I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I set my goals high and the results come if you focus on the process.”