By Alan Campbell

The course superintendent at Loch Lomond has admitted it was "touch and go" whether the greens would recover in time for next month's Scottish Open.

Members were forced to play on temporary greens throughout May while David Cole and his staff battled to get the putting surfaces back into shape.

The last four greens only became playable again ten days ago.

And Cole admitted they could still have been out of action if the recent weather had not been sunny.

"The weather has been perfect for the last 20 days and that has accelerated progress," he reported. "You could see the greens improving by the hour, never mind the day."

The problems were caused by the severity of the winter, with all 18 greens being covered by two or three inches of snow and ice for almost a month.

When the weather relented there were further difficulties with flooding and the cold temperatures in February and March.

"As the season approached in April we had to make tough decisions because some of the greens were quite drastic," explained Cole. "We decided to re-turf the ninth green from our own nursery, and then the third, the 11th and the 17th with turf we got from Wentworth.

"April stayed cold and the club made a very brave decision to go to temporary greens on the other 14 as well."

Cole sought advice from counterparts in Scandinavia and North America who are more used to coping with severe winters, and also enlisted the help of a Loch Lomond member - Walter Smith. The Rangers manager agreed to loan the lighting rig which helps repair the Ibrox pitch when it is damaged.

US Open champion Graeme McDowell is a former Loch Lomond winner

Peter Adams of the European Tour, who is the championship director of the Scottish Open (8-11 July), said: "It was a nerve-racking situation for a while, but it was a question of holding that nerve.

"A lot of expertise and knowledge was brought to bear, and we were told the greens would recover in time for the Scottish Open. Moving to temporary greens in May was exactly the right decision."

Adams confirmed that the field at Loch Lomond will include new US Open champion and former Scottish Open winner Graeme McDowell, as well as world number two Phil Mickelson.

This year's Masters champion was beaten in a play-off at Loch Lomond in 2007 - by Gregory Havret, the man McDowell held off to become the first European winner of the US Open for 40 years.

"It is no secret that Loch Lomond is one of my favourite venues of the entire year on the European Tour," said McDowell, who won on the bonnie banks in 2008.

"I think it's fantastic for the tournament that Gregory and myself will be playing there having finished first and second at Pebble Beach."

Meanwhile, Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa will make his debut at Loch Lomond.

The 18-year-old, with eight tournament wins in his homeland, carded the lowest round ever at any major event last month when he had a record-breaking 12 under par final round of 58 to win The Crowns Tournament.

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