Barclays Scottish Open - Loch Lomond Preview

With the countdown to the British Open at St Andrews underway, the European Tour stops off at the shores of the beautiful Loch Lomond. It's a star-studded line up headed by Ernie Els, a stalwart of this event and previous winner twice, although there are a total of 4 players from the current Top Ten in the World Rankings here. At 7/1 favourite with Stan James, Ernie won't have it all his own way.

The other notables include Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Adam Scott. There is a universal liking for this course among the players, which is stunning to look at and play, but it is very different to the links at St Andrews and this is not always considered a true test going into the Major. Having said that….do well here and invariably you set yourself up for a good week in the Open.

Mickelson (10's) played here last year but missed the cut and it seemed an exercise to iron out any last minute quirks in his game. You could be backing the same this year. Retief Goosen (11's) on the other hand always plays here and has a very good record. In the last eight years he has only been out of the top 15 on one occasion. You'll definitely get a run for your money here. Adam Scott (18's) and Luke Donald (20's) are pretty unknown quantities around here but Darren Clarke (16's) has enough experience here to put in a low score. He finished strongly at the K Club and is fresh.

A host of past champions also line up. Lee Westwood (25's) is beginning to find his stride again, as is Colin Montgomerie (33's). You get the feeling that victory is just around the corner for Monty and he'd love to put in a performance for his fellow country folk.

Thomas Bjorn (40's) is also another past champion, but after last week you have to ask questions of his mental state. But beware….when a similar sequence of events happened at Sandwich in the Open, he came back straight away and only lost in a play-off the week after. Do not write Bjorn off around here. I suspect he'll put in a very big performance this week. Angel Cabrera (33's), Tom Lehman (66's) and Eduardo Romero (100's) are other past champions in the field. Lehman is certainly struggling a little with his game, but the other two, Cabrera and Romero have live each way chances this week.

Others who are well capable of performing well this week are Robert Allenby at 50's, Miguel-Angel Jimenez at 33's and Trevor Immelman at 50's who's had a very good start to the week at the JP McManus event.

Very good value due to their records here will also be Ian Poulter at a very tempting 66's, Freddie Jacobsen at 33 and Tim Clark at 25's……the latter being the subject of an early gamble this week.

If there is one player though that the crowd will want to win then it's Monty and it's only a matter of time before he breaks his duck. He's too good not to be a contender.

The BBC are covering the event live from Thursday.

Go to Stan James now!