Welcome to the best time of the golf calendar. It’s links season, baby. Well, depending on whether you’re a purist who debates whether Scotland’s Renaissance Club really plays like a links test or not, but that’s besides the point.
The Scottish Open is this week in East Lothian, the final tuneup before the Open Championship next week at Royal Birkdale, and this year the Scottish has a little more intrigue than normal.
That’s because seven LIV golfers, led by Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, are in the field this week. From March to August, PGA Tour and LIV stars typically only meet at the four major championships. Or maybe they’ll see each other at an international offseason event. But the Scottish is technically part of the PGA Tour calendar.
So you might be wondering how that’s possible and what it means. Let us explain.
How they are all in the same field
The key is remembering that the Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (the European Tour), a core piece of the two tours’ “strategic alliance” since 2022. So DP World Tour players are eligible to compete.
These seven LIV golfers are members of the DP World Tour and never resigned their membership, allowing them to remain eligible for the Ryder Cup. They are now also members without issue, with all seven settling a long dispute by paying outstanding fines and agreeing to play five tour events each season. In turn, they received conditional releases from the DPWT to play in conflicting LIV events going forward.
Chris Gotterup wins for a third time in 2026
So while, yes, technically Rahm and company are playing in a PGA Tour event, for their purposes they are really playing in a DP World Tour event.
Previously, LIV had its own event the week before the Open Championship, but a schedule change (LIV is in the midst of a seven-week break) allows for its stars to play the Scottish.
So what happens if one wins?
A very realistic scenario. Rahm and Hatton have the third- and 10th-highest odds to win, respectively, according to DraftKings, and David Puig is in the top 20.
Normally, a win in the Scottish would mean a two-year exemption to play on the PGA Tour in addition to the $1.62 million winner’s purse. Could this be some sort of massive loophole akin to the PGA Tour’s amnesty offer in January to Rahm and two others?
Nope.
Even if they still “earned” the card, these players remain suspended from the PGA Tour for playing in unsanctioned competing events. It’s not as if tour card status was ever the issue for players like Rahm and Hatton. They always had cards. They were just ineligible to play in those events anymore, and this would be no different.
But that’s not even quite the case, as the PGA Tour confirmed in May that the LIV golfers remain ineligible for earning tour membership.
Wait, could a LIV player play in the ISCO if they wanted?
No.
For reference, the ISCO Championship is the alternate field event this week in Kentucky that is also part of the deal with the DP World Tour. Fifty spots in the ISCO are reserved for DP World Tour players. Not that they’d want to be stateside the week before the Open, but just to be a troll, couldn’t a LIV golfer go play in an official PGA Tour event?
It turns out, the language is slightly different between the two tournaments. While the Scottish is fully a co-sanctioned event, a PGA Tour official confirmed the ISCO is technically a PGA Tour event that allows DP World Tour players. They still, according to the official, can uphold their suspension in Kentucky.
Scottie Scheffler, left, and Sungjae Im walk the Renaissance course during a practice round. (Warren Little / Getty Images)
Any other big reasons to watch the Scottish?
Yes!
Scottie Scheffler is in the field for the first time in three years. He’s recently preferred to take the week off before the Open Championship, taking trips to other links courses in the area and preparing for that year’s test. This year, he’s back in the field alongside most of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars, including Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick.
The addition of LIV golfers makes it one of the more intriguing fields of the season as it’s one of five times we get to see Rahm compete with his elite peers. It essentially looks like a signature event field plus LIV stars and top DP World Tour players.
It’s also been a source of epic golf in recent years. Last year, Chris Gotterup announced himself to the golf world by holding off McIlroy for the win. Before that, Robert MacIntyre pulled off a thrilling comeback to win his national open, a result that left him emotional. And in 2023, McIlroy took down MacIntyre with one of the more beautiful shots of his career in a wild win, a shot so good they honored it with a plaque.
Plus, it’s Scottish golf early in the morning in the U.S. There are not many better treats.