Maguire & Meadow among Olympic stars set to flock to Scotland

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow return to Olympic action on Tuesday night for the first time in five years since Rio before the pair’s attention will turn to this year’s star-studded Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links from 12-15 August.

Both players will be hell-bent on bringing an Olympic medal home to Ireland first and foremost with Meadow buoyed by a tied-sixth result at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational before grabbing a top-30 finish at the Evian.

Cavan professional Maguire will enter the Kasumigaseki Country Club arena as our leading medal hope, however, having broken inside the top-50 on the Rolex rankings following her stunning final round 61 at the Evian – equalling the lowest round in major history – that saw her tie sixth in France.

“Yeah, I mean my game is in nice shape,” Maguire said. “It was nice to finish off Evian with a good round and good momentum. It was my best finish in a major so I’m sort of trending in the right direction.

“And it’s a very different golf course this week. I’ve never been to Asia before so I’m dealing with different grasses and all that. So I’m trying to learn this new golf course as best as we can before we go on Wednesday.”

Whatever the outcome, both Maguire and Meadow will then join thirty-two fellow Olympians taking their place in this year’s Scottish Open. Headed by Minjee Lee, golf’s most recent Major winner, the field is shaping up to be the strongest to date as new title sponsor Trust Golf takes it’s place alongside long term supporters, VisitScotland, to welcome the world’s best women to Scotland’s East coast at Dumbarnie Links.

A six-time LPGA winner, Lee is looking forward to returning to Scotland as the popular Australian explained:

“It has been an unreal few weeks really,” Lee said. “Finally winning my first Major feels so good and then the excitement of heading to the Olympics to represent Australia is amazing. Although it’s a busy time, I know I will arrive in Scotland raring to go.

“I absolutely love visiting the UK and especially getting the opportunity to play links golf in Scotland, the Home of Golf. It always feels so special, and I really enjoy all the challenges that links golf throws up. I’ve actually had three top 10s in the four Scottish Open’s I’ve played in, including a second place finish, so hopefully this year I might be able to go one better.”

With such a strong 2021 Olympic contingent in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open field, there is every possibility that Scotland could be welcoming all three medal winners this time next week.

Likely contenders include Lee, fresh from her win at the Evian Championship, past champion, Ariya Jutanugarn, two-time Major winner Lydia Ko, World No.9 Yuka Saso, 2021 ANA Inspiration champion, Patty Tavatanakit, Australian Major winner, Hannah Green and AIG Women’s Open defending champion Sophia Popov.

There are 16 Major winners in this year’s field with 26 titles between them, including defending Champion, Stacy Lewis, who will be looking to claim the prestigious LPGA and Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned event which, including Lewis, has seven past Champions in the line-up. With more than 70 champions in the field, who have won over 300 titles on the LPGA and Ladies European Tours, competition will be fierce for one of the most prestigious titles in women’s golf.

The new tournament title sponsor, Trust Golf, is a Thai-based technology enterprise, founded by Dr. Prin Singhanart, working with the next generation of Thai golf professionals with the intentions to now expand internationally with the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open as their first international venture, partnering with the Scottish Government and VisitScotland.

Having supported the Women’s Scottish Open since 2007, and recently announcing a further five-year funding agreement with investment of up to £6m through to 2025, the Scottish Government and VisitScotland are amongst the most prolific supporters of women’s golf globally having hosted the most successful Solheim Cup to date in 2019.

New tournament host venue, Dumbarnie Links is one of Scotland’s newest courses yet most lauded as it made an immediate impression on golf aficionados worldwide when it opened in May 2020, already establishing itself as an unmissable golfing experience on the east coast. Situated on land that has a mile and a half of sea frontage with panoramic views over the Firth of Forth, it sits comfortably amongst the likes of St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Crail located just down the coastline.

The Olympic Women’s Individual Stroke Play at Kasumigaseki Country Club gets underway at 23.30 Irish time, tonight [Tuesday].