The Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open

We’re Back! LET Returns to Action at Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.

The 2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, on August 13-16 at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, will be the LET’s first tournament in five months, following on from the Investec South African Women’s Open, which was played in mid-March, just before the coronavirus pandemic led to the postponement of international sports fixtures globally.

The tournament is set to go ahead without spectators as a made for TV event following close consultation and collaboration with the Scottish Government, Aberdeen Standard Investments, VisitScotland, the LPGA and the LET, fully adhering to internationally recognised COVID-19 protocol and subject to necessary formal approvals of athlete quarantine exemptions.

This will be the second year that The Renaissance Club has hosted the co-sanctioned LET-LPGA event. Last year, South Korea’s Mi Jung Hur took home her third LPGA victory, before going on to claim a fourth in the 2019 Indy Women in Tech Championship driven by Group 1001.

In record-setting fashion, Hur turned it on during the back nine with six birdies to set the 72-hole tournament record at 20-under par and take a four-shot victory over runners-up Moriya Jutanugarn and Jeongeun Lee6. Will Hur defend her title?

Here is a look at the likely protagonists.

Mi Jung Hur

At no.20 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, the 30-year-old Texas-based Korean will be the fourth highest ranked player in the field, behind Danielle Kang (world no.5), Minjee Lee (world no.8) and Hyo Joo Kim (no.13). However, don’t rule out the benefit of experience! Mi Jung mastered the elements last year to win by four in torrential rain at The Renaissance Club, defeating the higher ranked players. The 5’10” tall player looked totally at ease in the challenging conditions.

Charley Hull

British no.1 Charley, ranked 25^th in the world, started the season well with a tie for 11^th at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and she has since played well on the Rose Ladies Series, picking up the first title at Brokenhurst Manor in the New Forest. The 24-year-old from Kettering in Northamptonshire is a two-time winner on the LET, having won the 2014 Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco and the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi and she has also won the 2016 CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA. A four-time Solheim Cup player who was part of the winning team at Gleneagles, she will be looking forward to returning to Scotland.

Bronte Law

World no.35 Bronte graduated with a Degree in Sociology from UCLA in 2017 alongside fellow Tour member, Alison Lee and turned professional the same year.  The 25-year-old from Stockport played tennis, soccer, field hockey and ran cross-country growing up. In 2019, she joined the LET and represented Europe as a member of the winning Solheim Cup team at Gleneagles, winning two points from four matches. Her victory in the penultimate singles match against Ally McDonald set up Suzann Pettersen to hole the winning putt moments later. Prior to her appearance in Scotland, she won her first LPGA title with a wire-to-wire victory in the Pure Silk Championship presented by Visit Williamsburg.

Carly Booth

Looking for repeat success on home soil, Carly is a three-time winner on the LET who won her first title in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at Archerfield Links, adjacent to The Renaissance Club, in 2012. She followed that by winning the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open and recently won the 2019 TIPSPORT Ladies Open in the Czech Republic. The 28-year-old Scot, from Comrie near Gleneagles, fired rounds of 70, 67, 66 and 71 in last year’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club to finish tied for ninth position. Carly was an all-round sporting talent as a youngster but chose golf and she is still a highly competent gymnast.

Catriona Matthew OBE

Local star Catriona will be looking for a hat-trick of Scottish Open titles, having won in 2011 and 2013 at nearby Archerfield Links. The victorious European Solheim Cup Captain at Gleneagles last year, who will take on the United States again at Inverness Club in 2021, won’t have to travel far, as she can stay at home in nearby North Berwick with her husband Graeme and two girls, Katie and Sophie. Always one to watch, Catriona lists the 2009 Women’s British Open, which she won at Royal Lytham and St Annes, amongst her 12 career titles.

Georgia Hall MBE

Georgia began playing golf at the age of seven when her father took her to a local driving range in Dorset.  The 24-year-old from Wimborne is a past British Amateur Champion and represented team Europe in The PING Junior Solheim Cup before she turned professional in July 2014. She won the LET order of merit and made the first of two Solheim Cup appearances in 2017, but her dreams came true in 2018 when she won the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, 10 years after fellow Briton Catriona Matthew. Georgia was also a star of the Solheim Cup in Scotland last year.

Julia Engström

Julia broke into the LET winner’s circle in February at the Women’s New South Wales Open in Australia and she leads the LET’s Race to Costa del Sol Ranking. The 19-year-old from Halmstad has been able to keep practising in recent months as golf courses have remained open in Sweden. Julia, who only recently finished her high school studies, has fond memories of playing golf in Scotland. In 2016, aged 15, she became the youngest player to win the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship, when it was played at Dundonald Links. More recently, she won a bronze medal in the inaugural European Golf Mixed Team Championships at Gleneagles in 2018.   

Alice Hewson

Alice made history by winning on her first professional start at the Investec South African Women’s Open in March and, five months later, she still holds a 100 per cent record! Last year, the 22-year-old from Hemel Hempstead in England was finishing 10^th in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which meant that she qualified to play in the 2019 AIG Women’s British Open at Woburn. Alice also won the European Ladies Amateur Championship last year, coming from seven shots behind in the final round. The former England-level swimmer will be making her first appearance in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.

Fans will be able to watch the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open on Sky Sports and the Golf Channel, with enhanced content on its digital channels, www.ladiesscottishopen.com, @LadiesScottish #ASILSO #RuleTheLinks.