Scotsman Stephen Gallacher has been able to play here and there due to sponsor exemptions and his DP World Tour and Challenge Tour category, but he’ll certainly be gung-ho to play a full season again now that his card’s been unrevoked.
The four-month gap between May and September is going to have an influence on the kind of golf and the sorts of shots the perennially sizeable galleries will be treated to this week.
The 70-strong field amassed nine triple-bogeys and 46 doubles in increasingly blustery conditions that only accentuated the severe contours of the endlessly eccentric and speedy putting surfaces.
As the eyes of the world turn to a currently sun-drenched Caledonia over the next few weeks, the state of Scotland’s game leaves a lot to be desired.