The Genesis Scottish Open stands alone as one of the most-prestigious events on the golfing calendar. However, in recent years, it has also become a key to success for stars progressing to The Open Championship the following week. Claret Jug winners have made regular reference to the importance of competing at Scotland’s national Open prior to the big one. Ahead of the 153rd Championship at Royal Portrush, it has again been a topic of discussions with all four of the sport’s current Major champions giving their won reasons why from the conditions, to the turf, to acclimatising from the United States . “I think it’s massive across the board. Just hard to replicate any sort of tournament feel back home in the States where you can hit an iron, the same club, a difference of 50 to 60 yards just based on how you hit it or what kind of wind you get. “There’s only one way to get that done and it’s coming over here. And whether it’s hitting drivers in crosswinds or getting used to a different bounce with your wedge or trying to hit it over those big lips that you guys have over here, it’s a lot of fun to prepare that way. “I’d say flight is a big thing. A lot of it’s just feeling comfortable with the window, maybe playing the ball a little bit further back. Wedge grind, a little bit less bounce on a wedge and then turf conditions, I think, depending on how much it rains, the club is going through the ground a little bit differently than maybe back home. Other than that, and then green speeds are a bit slower.” “I think the turf, the noise of strike when you strike a good iron off links turf, it just sounds a bit different. I think the creativity and the imagination you need around the greens. I think that it's the purest form of golf. It’s where golf was invented. It’s where they first played on that sort of land. There’s a nice connection to the past with links golf. “It’s a great week to shake any competitive rust off, obviously with one eye looking ahead to next week at The Open. “This is a tournament and a golf course that has grown on me over the years. I don’t think I started out too well here, but learned how to play the course a little bit better. Obviously I had that great finish in 2023 and I played well again last year.” “I don’t know if adjusting my game would be the way to describe it. You just hit more shots than I typically practise. You use a little bit more of the tools that I have over here. You get to play a lot of different shots, high, low, and that’s something that I’ve always enjoyed, being able to work the ball and hit different types of shots. “Over here it’s a different type of grass than I grew up on and a lot of times over here, you don’t really know if you’re going to have a good lie or a bad lie. “Sometimes you get a clean one and other times you get a ball that’s essentially in hay and very tough to play out of. “Sometimes if you barely hit it off line it can kind of bounce in the fairway and kind of hop and go into one of those bunkers and some days, you’re just hitting it way off line and it ends up barely right in the bunker and so you have a clean lie. There’s little stuff like that that happens throughout tournament week but that’s just part of it. “That was one thing that surprised me the first time I came over was certain shots that I would play at home that would work in that much wind. I kind of had to adjust a little bit to take a little bit more spin off the ball, to take more club, take more spin off, just because of the way turf is here, the ball actually comes off a little bit spinnier than it does off the bermuda grass we play at home. “To me, it’s a much more traditional style of golf where you can tell that the game is invented over here. Because if you come out with an older gentleman who is maybe a 10 handicap and can’t hit the ball very high, he can still play these golf courses because you can run the ball on the ground. No matter where you are, there’s always a shot to be played.” “I got a taste of what a different style of golf is here. More links style. More elements involved. I’m happy to be back. “I would say. I would say the closest I ever got to links was Bandon Dunes over in Oregon. I played the US Amateur Pub Links back in college in 2011, I believe, was when I did that. I think you’re just trying to figure out how your numbers carry out here as far as the wind goes. I mean, it’s a thicker wind. It might feel 10 to 15mph, but it plays a lot longer than that if it’s into you. As far as that goes and getting your trajectories down, and I think the other thing is getting dialled in with your spin rates because, obviously into the wind, that plays a huge part and how far that’s going to carry into the wind. “So that, along with the travel and acclimating your sleeping and all that stuff. I’ve been here since Saturday and I’m finally sleeping through the night.”