Gullane (Scotland), July 8 (IANS) Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri will tee off at the Scottish Open starting here on Thursday, knowing a good performance will give him the confidence and momentum going into the next week’s The British Open Championship.
Current Asian Tour leader Lahiri, 28, has already played in this year’s two Majors — Augusta Masters and US Open. The world No.51, who is at 14th spot in the European Tour order of Merit riding mostly on his title winning performances at the Malaysia Open and Indian Open, will tee off alongside South Korea’s world No.413 Y.E, Yang and England’s world No.54 Andy Sullivan at 1.30 PM local time.
Two Indians — Shiv Kapur and Jeev Milkha Singh — will also compete at the 3,250,000 pounds 156-golfer tournament that offers three qualifying spots for the 144th Open starting on July 16.
World No.366 Shiv will be joined by Craig Sutherland and England’s world No.514 Jason Barnes at 3.30 PM, while veteran Jeev will tee off with world No.146 Fabrizio Zanotti, world No.76 Daniel Berger of the US at 2.30 PM.
World no.935 Jeev returns to the tournament which he triumphed in 2012 and even though he is not in the best of form — missing five cuts in the last 10 tournament and without a top-20 finish — it will work as a motivation for the 43-year-old.
Many of the world’s top golfers have opted not to play in the event at the Gullane Golf Club, which precedes the third major of the year.
However, defending champion Justin Rose of England, five-time Major winner and world No.21 Phil Mickelson and world No.52 Graeme McDowell will be strong favourites.