Once again it is a pleasure to welcome the world’s finest golfers to compete in the abrdn Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian on Scotland’s Golf Coast.
Scotland is known as the Home of Golf, renowned and envied around the globe as a world-class golf tourism and events destination. This year, more than any, it was important for the abrdn Scottish Open to take place.
The abrdn Scottish Open helps showcase Scotland’s place on the world stage. It is an important step for our golf tourism and events industry as it looks to the future having been severely impacted in the past 18 months. It is also a boost for the East Lothian community and for the limited number of spectators who will return to a live golf event for the first time in two years.
My sincere thanks go to the European Tour for their diligence and commitment to staging the event and working alongside our clinicians and health advisers to create as safe and secure an environment as possible for spectators, staff, players and the wider community.
To the players, thank you for placing your trust in us to host a safe and secure tournament and provide you with the stunning backdrop on which to showcase your talent for playing a sport which originated here, in Scotland. Your participation and support is never taken for granted and I’m delighted to see such a strong player field competing for the abrdn Scottish Open title this year. Good luck to you all.
Tens of millions of viewers from around the world will enjoy images of our magnificent East Lothian coastline during the tournament, serving to inspire a trip to Scotland in the future. I hope these magnificent pictures whet your appetite for what Scotland has to offer and the country looks forward to welcoming you once again as soon as possible.
A major golf event isn’t, however, solely about the sporting entertainment on show on the course. I’m delighted to see numerous initiatives throughout the week promoting key policies including sustainability, health & wellbeing, education and sport participation, as well as extremely worthy charitable activities. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about these initiatives throughout the duration of event week.
Events and tourism can be a powerful force for good and, through VisitScotland, we are proud to work with our long-term partners at the European Tour and abrdn to support an event which delivers on so many fronts.
I wish the very best to everyone involved in the abrdn Scottish Open and look forward to another world-class sporting exhibition right here in Scotland, the Home of Golf.
Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister of Scotland
