With advance tickets sales 25 per cent ahead of last year, record crowds are expected to head to Loch Lomond this week to watch Tim Clark defend his title in the £2.4 million Barclays Scottish Open, and for the third year running, spectators at the event will be helping to raise money for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

While the world’s top golfers, including Darren Clarke, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, David Howell, Tom Lehman, Colin Montgomerie and José Maria Olazábal, compete for the £400,000 first prize, golf fans will be competing for top prizes in various charity golf activities in the Tournament Village, all in aid of CHAS.

There are lots of great prizes on offer including the latest Ping G5 putter, a LinksPutt putting green, a weekend break for six at the Bowmore Distillery on Islay and an Omega Sea Master watch.

Peter Adams, Championship Director, The Barclays Scottish Open, said: “The Barclays Scottish Open is proud to be supporting CHAS with a number of fun activities for spectators in the village including The Barclays Scottish Open LinksPutt Challenge, a nine-hole putting competition, The Barclays Scottish Open Golf Academy, in association with Quintic, where you get a video golf lesson and a CD Rom showing your swing, the Scottish Golf Central Nearest the Pin golf simulator and the Grand Prize Draw.”

Keith Williams, Chief Executive, Loch Lomond Golf Club, said:  “Last year we raised £17,000 for CHAS over the week of the tournament so all being well we can better that this year.  Advanced ticket sales are well ahead of 2005, so we are expecting record crowds at this year’s tournament.  Anyone who has not yet purchased tickets will be able to do so at the gate.”

With more and more tickets for the event being booked on line, visitors to The Barclays Scottish Open website have been invited to share their opinions on two of the most debated topics in golf. When asked, ‘How would you toughen a golf course for the best players in the world?’ – over 100 visitors to the website offered their views. The most popular were to narrow the fairways, create more hazards and to make the greens smaller.

It has been over 100 years since Golf was an Olympic sport and when asked to respond to the question – ‘Should golf be an Olympic sport?’ – we found that 55% of 346 respondents feel golf should indeed be an Olympic sport. These topics and more will be debated during the tournament on The Barclays Scottish Open spectator radio station on 87.9FM