Carly Booth, Kylie Henry, Michele Thomson and Kelsey McDonald, head the Scottish challenge for the 2021 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links, 12-15 August 2021.
The four home players benefit from having extensive links golf experience and will feel at home on Scotland’s newest links. Dumbarnie is situated just 12 miles south of St. Andrews, the Home of Golf.
The Scottish quartet feature among an all-star cast that includes defending champion Stacey Lewis, Charley Hull, and Georgia Hall. Lewis and Hall are just two of 16 Major winners in the field with 26 Major trophies between them.
There is no greater feeling than winning in your home country. Booth knows that feeling all too well. She won this event in 2012 to record her first Ladies European Tour win. The 29-year-old has a history of winning on home soil. A successful amateur career saw her win the Scottish Under 18 and Under 21 titles and become the youngest Great Britain & Ireland player to compete in the Curtis Cup. In 2009, she also became the youngest Scot to qualify for the Ladies European Tour at the age of 17.
Kylie Henry, currently 17th on the LET Order of Merit, The Race to Costa Del Sol, will be looking to build on a fine performance in last year’s Women’s Scottish Open when she finished 12th. This will be her 11th appearance in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, formerly known as the Ladies Scottish Open. She has made the cut on seven occasions, and counts 10th in 2012 as her best finish. Henry had a great season in 2020 with six top-15 finishes.
Michele Thomson is making her fourth appearance in this event. The 33-year-old played in 11 LET events last season with victory in the Saudi Ladies Team International alongside Emily Kristine Pedersen and Cassandra Hall the highlight of her year. Thompson, a protégé of 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie, counts runner up in the 2017 Hero Women’s Indian Open as her best career finish to date.
Like the other three members of the quartet, MacDonald honed her skills on links turf. She started playing golf at the age of eight at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club. The former Scottish Women’s Amateur champion has continued to be an ambassador for her home club, helping to recruit more women and girls into golf. MacDonald will be competing alongside her fellow scots at Dumbarnie Links after having her career best season in 2020. She narrowly missed out at the Investec SA Women’s Open, finishing T4. She had another three top-15 finishes and ended the season 21st on the Race to Costa del Sol.
As part of a commitment to women’s golf, long-term tournament partner VisitScotland has invited two Scottish players who are not otherwise exempt into the field at Dumbarnie Links. Gemma Dryburgh has won three times on the Rose Ladies Series and had four top 20 finishes in 2020, and Alison Muirhead has three top 20 finishes since obtaining her LET card last year and will be appearing in her second Women’s Scottish Open.
The Aberdeen native, Gemma Dryburgh explained “It’s always a proud moment to play in the Women’s Scottish Open. I am so grateful for receiving an invite from VisitScotland and be given the chance to build on the momentum I’ve gained from doing well in Northern Ireland and winning on the Rose Ladies Series. There is a lot to play for this year, especially with the addition of The Jock MacVicar Leading Scot Trophy. I think there is always pressure to do well at home, so it would mean a lot to win such a special trophy.”
One of these six players will receive The Jock MacVicar Leading Scot Trophy, a new addition to this year’s event in honor of legendary golf journalist Jock MacVicar, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Jock was a passionate supporter of this event and this annual tribute will be presented at the prize giving to the home player who finishes highest in the field. The Jock MacVicar Leading Scot Trophy winner will also receive a week-long training block at Trust Golf’s magnificent science-based golf training facility in Bangkok, Thailand.
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.
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