NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — The Scottish Open has the look of a major championship week, not so much because of the strength of the field or the heritage of the golf course.
It's about the collection of players.
Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are among seven players from LIV Golf competing this week in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event along with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Given the divide in golf that began four years ago when LIV Golf launched, they only get together four times a year at the majors.
“I've talked about wanting to have all of the best players in the world play together,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Yeah, I guess this is good.”
He also made clear it's not all that unusual.
The Genesis Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the European tour and the PGA Tour. Rahm is back in good graces with the European tour, and the other six LIV players — Hatton, David Puig, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, Laurie Canter and Tom McKibbin — still have standing in Europe.
All have played European tour events while on LIV. The rarity is being among the PGA Tour's leading stars, who are here to prepare for the British Open next week.
LIV players previously had a tournament in Spain during the Scottish Open. Now the league, which will lose its Saudi funding after this season, has been off for a month and won't resume until its UK stop right after the British Open.
“Just happy the DP World Tour let me have the opportunity and that I can be here and play what's not only a great week but a great golf course, great crowd,” Rahm said. “It's one of my favourite weeks, so it's really fun to be here again.
“Although I love Valderrama ... this one gets you much more prepared for The Open and that's why so many players have come and played the Scottish Open before it was a co-sanctioned event."
Asked if it felt any different, Rahm replied without elaboration, “No.”
A few spots down the range from Scheffler at The Renaissance Club was his fellow American, Patrick Reed, who hasn't played a PGA Tour event since the 2022 Memorial before he went to LIV.
Reed is no longer with the rival league, deciding not to renew his contract at the start of the year and then playing his way to the top of the Race to Dubai. He is almost certain to regain PGA Tour status as one of the 10 leading players on the European tour.
Reed is banned from the PGA Tour until September — he is playing the Scottish Open as a European tour member — though he plans to stick with a full European tour schedule through the fall.
So by appearance, it looks as though golf is being put back together.
Perhaps more of this is to come. So much uncertainty faces LIV Golf without Saudi funding except the expectation if it does survive for 2027, the purses will be much smaller and the tour leaner. Also unclear is who will be under contract, and how the PGA Tour will bring them back.
Brooks Koepka, also playing at The Renaissance Club this week, was the first to return and is not concerned with the future of LIV or its players.
“I don't have an opinion either way,” Koepka said.
He is more interested in his own past. The Scottish Open was the first tournament he played as a European tour member in 2013. Koepka had just won in Scotland for his third Challenge Tour title to get an instant promotion, and then flew to England and qualified for the British Open.
Those were happy, carefree times. Now is happy to be back on the PGA Tour, mainly because his wife and young son are able to travel more easily and he likes having them around.
“I feel like last year I wasn’t in the head space to actually play good golf, and now that everything is kind of cleared up and I’m in a better ... we all have that, right? It’s life,” Koepka said.
McIlroy and Adam Scott are among those who have dropped in on Royal Birkdale ahead of the British Open for little more than a scouting report. The Lancashire links has changed the fifth hole and built a new par-3 (No. 15) that can play as long as 241 yards.
The Renaissance Club is not links turf, but it has the look. And if nothing else, it's a chance to get adjusted to the time zone and to slightly slower greens. For Scheffler, there could be no better way to get ready for his Open title defense than to win for the first time since January.
“I didn't come over here just for Open prep,” he said. “I came over here to play golf and play well.”
