Peter Whiteford has said that the Scottish contingent in competition at The Open can look forward to the event after showing good recent form.

Whiteford will be competing in his first Major when play gets underway at Royal St George’s Golf Club but can take confidence from an impressive performance in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.

The 30-year old from Kirkcaldy was in a four-way tie for the lead after two rounds, with Glasgow’s Scott Jamieson also sharing pole position. World number one Luke Donald went on to take the title but with six player from Scotland heading south to Sandwich after playing at Castle Stuart, Whiteford felt they could make an impact.

“I think most of the Scottish boys are playing well, to be honest,” he said.

“As far as I know, we're all in decent form so hopefully a few of us can get up the leaderboard.”

Whiteford acknowledged that a disappointing third round in the Scottish Open had cost him a likely top ten placing but said he hoped to take the positives from a strong start and emulate that this weekend.

“I hope so,” he said. “I played well in the first two rounds. It was a bit of a delay before I played the final round and yes, it was a bad round.

“I guess I could have masked it with a decent putting display and maybe had a two or three under but one over was not what was required. You drop a lot when it's a short, easy golf course.

“It was a bad day but not horrific so it didn't dent the confidence two much.“

The Scot said that following the final day, he had headed straight to Sandwich for preparation. He said that the windy conditions forecast for the tournament could have a huge bearing on how the course plays.

“I played nine holes when it was flat and calm on Monday and then yesterday was similar to today,” he added. “It was very windy and it showed its teeth. It's very, very tricky, to be fair.

“I've got an early tee time on the second day, I think I'm off at 6.30. That could be a very good draw.

“It could be freezing cold, right enough but normally on links it's not so windy in the morning and it picks up in the afternoon. So in theory I think it could be a nice draw but I would prefer it to be windy anyway.
“I'm used to playing in wind and it keeps me focused a little bit more when there's some elements out there.”