It's five years since a Scot won the flagship event of Britain and Ireland's top club professionals. And nearly 50 pros will take the first step on Monday (June 2) towards emulating the 2003 feat of Uphall's Gordon Law.
The Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship attracts around 600 entries from all over the British Isles, and the Lansdowne course at Blairgowrie will provide the test for the aspiring finalists who'll head for Moortown, Leeds, at the end of July.
Law, a brilliant winner at St Andrews Bay, uses up his final year of exemption from qualifying (the champion is granted five years), and the only other Scot who can happily forget about a trip to Perthshire is Irvine's Jim McKinnon. He eased in under the barrier by finishing tied 19th in last year's final at Royal Porthcawl in South Wales (the leading 20 are excused qualifying).
A few players stand out as likely candidates for the 72-hole final in Leeds, notably Robert Arnott, Fraser Mann and Alastair Webster. The last-named combines practically full-time work in the shop at Edzell, but on his occasional forays into Order of Merit outings he can often grab his share of the plunder. An opening 70 at Spey Valley in the recent Northern Open was testimony to his enduring skills.
He can also claim to be a past winner of the flagship title, all of 18 years ago over the tough challenge that is Carnoustie's championship course.
Arnott, a 2003 PGA Cup player in Florida against the United States (the club pros' version of the Ryder Cup), is another who can sign impressive cards, and finished last year in fifth place on the Scottish Order of Merit, his best in a pro career going back 22 years.
Mann, just two years short of his 50th birthday, may well be harbouring notions of plying his trade on the European Seniors Tour, but the Musselburgh man, a member of the winning PGA Cup team at The K Club three years ago, can still mix it with the younger ones.
The regional winners pick up £250 but the successful player at Moortown goes off with a cheque for £10,000, plus the use of a top-of-the-range Peugeot for a year.
This will be the 16th year of sponsorship by Glenmuir, the Scottish-based golfwear manufacturers, for whom Marketing Director Andy Bough, commented, "We've been working closely with the PGA to make this year's championship the best ever, an event that the competitors really enjoy on and off the course, and I am confident professionals will respond by taking part and creating a truly memorable championship," he said.