Himself the winner of the Junior Open in 1994, Sergio Garcia has offered his encouragement to competitors in the 2000 event, the "Millennium Challenge", to be held at Crail in July.

"All the players from all the golfing nations in the world will find playing the Junior Open and watching the Open Championship for a week invaluable experience, as I did at Turnberry. It promises to be an unforgettable occasion."

The most recent Junior Open, held in 1998, holds a Guinness Record for the most nations represented, 55. Organisers hope that next year this could be as high as 97.