Our golf correspondent digs out some stories behind the scenes at The Renaissance Club. He’d been waiting at the sixth tee since 7am and what a thrill it was for 12-year-old Andrew Shaw. As part of an effort to make it a day to remember for kids at The Renaissance Club, the pro in each group in the pro-am was joined for the walk up the ‘Stadium Hole’ by a youngster. For Shaw, that meant spending some time with Rory McIlroy and the golf-mad youngster from Houston in Renfrewshire described the experience as “awesome”. It was also a huge thrill for Shaw’s nine-year-old sister Beth as she did the same thing with Adam Scott, with the kids also having a putt on the green in the scramble format. “This sort of thing is great,” said dad Fraser, with both the youngsters proudly holding signed golf balls from two of the game’s top stars. As the Ryder Cup qualifying race enters the closing stretch, it seems as though European captain Luke Donald is keeping an eye on a couple of players he believes can be rookies at Bethpage Black in September. The former world No 1 is out in the opening two rounds in East Lothian with Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Englishman Harry Hall. Neergaard-Petersen topped the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca Rankings last year while Hall won the ISCO Championship, another DP World Tour and PGA Tour co-sanctioned event, this time last year. It seems that Neergaard-Petersen, in particular, has been catching the eye of Donald and vice captain Edoardo Molinari with those all-important stats this year. Scottish caddie Neil Crate is sporting a new tattoo for his home gig this week. Crate is sporting the ink after his current boss, Englishman Dan Brown, won the BMW International Open in Munich on Sunday. “Little side bet we had on Saturday,” explained Brown in a video on social media of the tattoo, which lists his scores and total with ‘Munich 2025’ underneath. Crate was the second Scottish caddie to taste victory on the DP World Tour in recent weeks after Edinburgh man Tim Poyser carried Kristoffer Reitan’s bag as the Norwegian triumphed in the Soudal Open in Belgium. The Genesis Scottish Open doesn’t need a sideshow, but a battle for the last three spots in The 153rd Open will certainly merit some attention in East Lothian. Out of the 156-strong field for the $9 million Rolex Series event, 77 are currently exempt for the final men’s major of the year at Royal Portrush next week. Bob MacIntyre is the sole Scot on that list, meaning Connor Syme, Calum Hill, Ewen Ferguson, Grant Forrest and Richie Ramsay all have a huge added incentive over the next four days. Amateur duo Connor Graham and Cameron Adam, as well as HotelPlanner Tour professional Daniel Young are the other Scots set to tee up on the County Antrim coast.