Ernie Els the latest big name to sign up for Castle Stuart By MARTIN DEMPSTER Published on Saturday 23 June 2012 04:05 IT may have competition this year with next week's Irish Open also being played on a links but the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart will still boast the second strongest field on this season's European Tour. With the fresh addition of two-time winner Ernie Els, the line-up now contains nine major champions after the South African joined, in alphabetical order, Rich Beem, Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Sandy Lyle, Shaun Micheel, Jose Maria Olazabal and Louis Oosthuizen on the cast list at the Inverness venue. Add in the fact that, at the close of entries yesterday, it also included 19 of the world's top 60 - two more than last year - and it's evident that neither the weather problems then or the Irish Open moving to Royal Portrush have had much of an adverse effect on the £2.5 million event at Castle Stuart. "It's fair to say that this field, after the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, is probably the best one this year on the European Tour," said Scottish Open tournament director Peter Adams during a visit yesterday to the course, where the infrastructure is already starting to take shape for world No 1 Luke Donald defending his title. Held after the Scottish event in recent years, it was inevitable that the Irish Open being moved to an earlier slot on another top-class links course would lead to some absentees on the Moray Firth coast. "The Irish Open is also providing links golf three weeks before the Open, so there are some players who are only playing one of the next three weeks," Adams added. I think that might have had a small effect but our field is still very strong. I think the proof will be next year, when I think the Irish Open is going to Carton House, which is not links golf, so we will see how much that changes things. Els, the winner at Loch Lomond in 2000 and 2003, enjoying his first visit to Castle Stuart last summer, when he combined playing in the tournament - he shared 25th spot - with a family holiday at nearby Skibo Castle. The three-time major winner will be returning to the Highlands in good fettle, having finished ninth in the US Open last weekend - the latest in a string of top-25 finishes this season. "I love playing in Scotland and I am excited about returning to Castle Stuart," said Els. I thoroughly enjoyed the layout of the course last year and I played pretty well. I feel my game is coming into form and I am looking forward to contending for my third Scottish Open title. As well as six members of the Ryder Cup-winning team at Celtic Manor in 2010 - Donald and Harrington will be joined by Peter Hanson, Francesco Molinari, Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez - the field also includes Kevin Na, the eccentric PGA Tour player who has found himself under the microscope recently over slow play. "We're delighted to have Kevin, who is an interesting guy for a number of different reasons, having made the headlines partly for the calibre of his gold but also for some of his idiosyncrasies," admitted Adams, who is also pleased to see Els heading back to Castle Stuart. "It is a great boost to have Ernie," he added. He's a two-time winner of the tournament and his game is really coming to the fore at the moment. He likes to play the Scottish Open and you wouldn't bet against him winning it again. As things stand, the line-up will include at least 13 Scots. In addition to the European Tour/PGA Tour players already guaranteed spots - Paul Lawrie, Martin Laird, Colin Montgomerie, Richie Ramsay, Scott Jamieson, Stephen Gallacher, Peter Whiteford, George Murray, David Drysdale and Marc Warren - Sandy Lyle has secured an invitation while Hayston's Stephen Gray also gets in as last year's Tartan Tour No 1. With David Law, last year's Scottish Amateur champion, having turned professional, his spot will go to a player set to be nominated by the Scottish Golf Union, the likelihood being that will go to the leading Scot on the world amateur rankings, who is Fifer Brian Soutar at the moment. However, the prospects are good for the Caledonian contingent being bolstered between now and the opening round on 12 July. Craig Lee and Gary Orr are first and third reserve respectively, while the likes of two-time European Tour winner Alastair Forsyth and Law, who also won the Northern Open as an amateur last year, are among a clutch of Scots waiting anxiously to see if they'll figure in the final batch of invitations yet to be handed out. "We have eight invitations in total and two have gone (to Lyle and American John Rollins)," reported Adams. We have a meeting on Monday and will be looking then at the Scottish players who have applied for spots.