Superstar Scottie Scheffler is adamant the Genesis Scottish Open is not just a prep run for Royal Portrush. The world No.1 is in East Lothian ahead of his bid to land a fourth Major title of his career at next week’s Open. However, Scheffler has slapped back suggestions the Renaissance is just a run-out for Northern Ireland as he set his sights firmly on the Tartan title. Home hero Bob MacIntyre holds the crown, but his playing partner for the opening two days wants it to take a winning feeling across the Irish Sea. Scheffler said: “This is an important tournament for me and I want to play well. If I wanted to just do preparation, I would have gone and played some other courses for fun. There’s other ways to get prep than coming over and playing tournament golf. “By no means am I showing up at this tournament to prepare [for Open]. Any time you’re able to win on the PGA or DP World Tour, I think you’ve done something very special. It’s very challenging. It would be very special to win at the Home of Golf. “To be able to win on this course, or next week, says a lot about a player, especially if they are coming over from the States.” The current king of the game goes out with home hero MacIntyre in rounds one and two and has history with the Scot forged back to days competing in Walker Cup. He said: “Bob got a tough break two years ago with Rory [McIlroy] birdieing the last two holes in pretty challenging conditions to beat him by one and for him to bounce back and win last year was nice for me to see. I was happy for him. “He’s a guy that works really hard and he’s one of the great guys out here. So it was nice to see him get it done at his home tournament.” Scheffler is savouring his time in Scotland with wife Meredith and son Bennett out wandering the course and the superstar insists quality time with loved ones at this stage of life comes ahead of creating an international schedule. He explained: “We get to stay very close to the course, so it’s nice for them to be able to walk out and hang out with me for a couple holes. That’s something we very rarely get to do. At tournament weeks, you don’t get a bunch of time at home. “I haven’t really played too much golf internationally. I always come over here and try to play this tournament and The Open Championship. I haven’t played in Asia or Australia yet as a professional. “Really, with the way our schedule is on Tour, the thing that’s most important to me is my time at home. It would be wonderful to be able to play an international schedule, but right now we play most of our tournaments in the States. “The off-season for us is typically where guys will go play in Asia and Australia or start the year in Dubai. For me, it’s important to get time at home because that’s my priority and playing tournaments that I can. “Justin [Thomas] and I were going to go try to play North Berwick on Monday because I had not played it before, but travelling through the night, your body doesn’t feel like it normally does. “I know it’s going to be tough putting my son to bed because, if it’s going to be tough for me to go to bed, it’s going to be pretty tough for a one-year-old. So I didn’t get the chance. “My family is my priority. If my wife and son are here, I want to spend time with them instead.”