One of the strongest fields in the history of the Scottish Open will assemble at The Renaissance Club at North Berwick as DP World Tour and PGA Tour superstars battle it out in the co-sanctioned Rolex Series event.
Impressively, nine of the top-10 in the Official World Ranking are present in the field with only Rory McIlroy having opted to skip this week ahead of the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. They are joined by 31 of the top-50 to round off what is an impressive field.
Defending champion Min Woo Lee returns to the scene of the largest victory in his career to date where he defeated the newly-crowned US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry in a playoff. It proved to be the catalyst for the Australian who in his Masters debut earlier this year, posted a record equalling six-under-par 30 on the front nine of the final round en route to a T14 finish – his best in a Major championship.
Many view the Scottish Open as the perfect opportunity to fine tune their game ahead of the Open Championship next week and this year is no different. Sitting next door to Muirfield on the Lothian coast, the Renaissance Club offers a blend of links and inland golf which is sure to test every player’s endeavours.
Michael Allen was the first American winner of the event back in 1989 when he defeated Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal at Gleneagles King’s Course. Tom Lehman followed suite with his runaway victory at Loch Lomond in 1997 before Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler claimed the title in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Lefty remains the last person to win the Scottish Open and the Open Championship in the same calendar year.
With much more American firepower in the field this year, bolstered by the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth, the American’s will fancy their chance of regaining the title once again.
Much of the talking point this week will be on the sanctions imposed by both the PGA and DP World Tour on the wantaway LIV Golf Series stars. Those…
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