The Renaissance Club near Dirleton will play host to the 41st Scottish Open this week, a competition with a history spanning over 50 years.

East Lothian will host the tournament for a sixth successive year, and a seventh in total.

First launched in 1972 under the title of Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open, the event was broadcast on ITV and with a total prize fund of £10,000 on offer, significantly lower than the £9,000,000 total prize fund on offer this year.

The inaugural competition was played at Downfield Golf Club in Dundee. Englishman Neil Coles beat Welshman Brian Huggett at the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to lift the title, finishing five-under-par.

In 1973 the tournament was played at The Old Course in St Andrews, Australia’s Graham Marsh lifting the title finishing two-under-par.

Unable to find coverage the following year, the tournament was cancelled, before being revived in 1986 under a new sponsorship deal with Bell's, the Glasgow Open, which had been held at Haggs Castle Golf Club from 1983 to 1985, was rebranded as the Scottish Open.

Northern Ireland’s David Feherty lifted the title upon its revival.

The tournament moved to Gleneagles from 1987-1994.

Over the past 19 years, the competition has undergone many name changes and venue changes Loch Lomond played host of the tournament from 1996-2010.

East Lothian first hosted the competition in 2015, when the competition was played in Gullane.

American Rickie Fowler took the title finishing on 12-under-par and taking home £541,668 in prize funds.

Gullane again played host in 2018, where South African Brandon Stone emerged victorious with a 20-under-par score.

Since 2018, the tournament has been held at The Renaissance Club, with Bernd Wiesberger (2019), Aaron Rai (2020), Min Woo Lee (2021) and Xander Schauffele (2022) winning the titles in each year.

Wiesberger's win was the best scoring the tournament has seen, with the Austrian finishing 22-under-par alongside Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, before taking the title in a playoff.

Welshman Ian Woosnam remains the tournament’s most successful competitor, lifting the title three times in 1987, 1990 and 1996. He is also the only winner to have won the tournament whilst over par, finishing one-over-par in 1986 at Carnoustie.

Scotland’s only winner has been Colin Montgomerie who lifted the title in 1999 at Loch Lomond, finishing 16-under-par.

Now branded the Genesis Scottish Open, the tournament will see eight Scottish golfers compete. Could one of them follow in Montgomerie’s footsteps?

They face stern competition, including world number one Scottie Scheffler and world number three Rory McIlroy. But on home soil, all eight golfers will have their eyes on making history.