A massive sinkhole that grabbed worldwide attention after appearing on a scenic Scots golf course has been fixed and had a hole named in its honour.
Drainage issues led to a crater 23ft long and 10ft wide opening up in front of the seventh green of the Traigh Golf Course, in Arisaig.
The appearance of the crater sparked fears large areas of the nine-hole course could become a bog.
Co-owner David Shaw Stewart has revealed the course will be officially reopened this week after £10,000 of repairs were carried out.
Roddie Burgess, captain of Traigh Golf Club, said the hole is going to be formally reopened on August 1, the day of the Traigh Open competition, and said it had been renamed ‘The Sinkhole’ or ‘An Sloc’ following the tradition of naming the holes at Traigh in both English and Gaelic.
He added: “I am absolutely delighted that we are back in business so quickly. The damage to the course seemed devastating at the time, and I can think of easier ways to get all the attention we received.
“But we felt that it would be appropriate to preserve the memory of the sinkhole though we certainly don’t want to see it back again.
“The Traigh Open is always a special day in our calendar and this will be particularly so.”
Heavy rain saw the hole suddenly appear in November and a digger and a tractor were used to help fix the damage and a new drainage pipe was installed in the 12ft deep hole.
Golf fans took to Twitter and Facebook to offer support to the club that has existed for over 100 years and TV shows in the US featured the hole on their golf coverage and it made news reports in China, Germany, Holland and Canada.
David Shaw Stewart added: “We were amazed how our sinkhole suddenly seemed to appear in news reports all over the world.
“It certainly seemed to grab the attention of golf fans across the globe.
“We are hugely grateful to the local firm Corrie Construction, with the able assistance of our own greenkeeper Gavin Johnston, for their sterling work in repairing all the damage.
“They were working through rain and snow in the middle of February and they certainly had to face some tricky technical problems.”