Scottish Open 2023: Stars descend on Renaissance Club for co-sanctioned event
- Published
American Xander Schauffele defends his Scottish Open title at the Renaissance Club this week
Forget Senate hearings and merger controversies. It's all about the glorious golfing action over the next four days as the Scottish Open takes centre stage boasting a cast list oozing with superstar talent.
Eight of the world's top 10 - Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele among them - head a stacked field teeing it up to packed galleries at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian.
Being co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World Tours for a second year in succession has helped to boost the event's already notable pulling power and profile, not to mention its coffers. Serious money - a £7m total prize pot and £1.2m for the winner - is up for grabs.
It's not all about the lucre, though. Far from it. The great and the good flock to the Scottish Open to sharpen their links game before the following week's Open Championship.
This fortnight is the only time all year most PGA Tour players get to sample the bumps, hollows and pot bunkers intrinsic to the wonderful world of links golf.
It's a break from the norm they clearly lap up. It's why Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas to name but two could be found playing nearby North Berwick this week. The pair even pushed their own trolleys.
It's why fellow American Max Homa calls this stretch of coastline in East Lothian "the Mecca of golf courses". Even the threat of typically rotten Scottish weather - strong winds and rain - can't dampen the enthusiasm.
"It's 110 degrees at my house right now, so this is a welcome temperature and I don't mind a little rain here and there," said Phoenix-based Californian Homa, who can't get enough of the "awesome" crowds that have made it the fastest-selling Scottish Open ever.
"They get boisterous - I can't understand a word half of them are saying. It is quite fun to try and decipher that," he added.
The Renaissance Club may not be a pure links, but it's close enough for those with an eye on a tilt at the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool next week.
And one word keeps coming up when players at the Renaissance Club this week give their thoughts on links golf and the Scottish Open. Fun.
Scheffler says it make you feel "you're playing golf like you're a kid again", Homa relishes the "long, funky putts", and Rickie Fowler calls it "proper golf".
Who to look out for?
Scheffler barely put a foot wrong last year, winning his first three PGA Tour titles and his maiden major at the Masters as he ascended to world number one. Yet he had a rare misstep at the Scottish Open, missing the cut, and is aiming to right that wrong on this third visit.
"I feel like every time I've missed a cut on tour, I've done something wrong mentally. I've made a couple mental errors and I definitely made a few of those last year, so I'm always trying to refine my approach," said the 27-year-old.
Having swerved the tournament last year, McIlroy is back and guaranteed to draw a large following.
Viktor Hovland arrives as a man in form, with a runners-up finish at the US PGA Championship in May among his highlights reel, while another European Ryder Cup player, Tyrell Hatton, is always an entertaining watch and never one to bottle up and emotions.
Schauffele won't give up the trophy without a fight, and the ever-popular Fowler - Scottish Open champion at Gullane back in 2015, arrives feeling "freed" after ending four years in the wilderness with victory at the Detroit Classic earlier this month.
Australia's big-hitting Min Woo Lee, the 2021 Scottish Open winner, has been making inroads on both tours this year and is relishing his return to a "special venue". Might the local knowledge of his Scottish caddie Stuart Davidson give him the edge?
"We started nine or 10 months ago and straight off the bat at Wentworth I had the best round of my life at Wentworth. Ten under, I think. Something really low," Woo Lee said.
"I thought there must be something good with this relationship and, since then, we have kept stringing off good events. We haven't got over the line yet, but it's been a lot of good."
Scotland footballers John McGinn, left, and Scott McTominay, right, get in on the action with Robert MacIntyre at the Scottish Open
What about the home contingent?
The tournament's co-sanctioned status does mean a squeeze on the number of Scots taking part.
This week there are seven - Robert MacIntyre, Richie Ramsay, Ewan Ferguson, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest, Connor Syme, David Law and Scott Jamieson - vying to follow in the spike-marks of Colin Montgomerie, who remains the only homegrown winner after his triumph at Loch Lomond 24 years ago.
MacIntyre and Ramsay are both aiming to improve upon agonising near misses at last weekend's Made in Himmerland.
As for Ferguson - who has racked three top-five finishes this season as he strives for a third DP World Tour title - he is taking his "weird" nickname in his stride.
"On social media people call me the knock-off Rickie Fowler," said Ferguson, 27. "I think it's a bit harsh but hopefully I can play with the real Rickie Fowler this weekend, that would be pretty cool.
"The next Rickie Fowler would be nicer but knock-off, I'll take that as well."
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