​NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — The Scottish Open has the vibe of a major championship week, not because of the depth of the field or the historic links layout, but because of the gathering of players. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are among seven LIV Golf competitors this week in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, joined by Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick. Since LIV Golf launched four years ago, the golf world has been split, and the athletes from both sides only meet in big moments like the majors, which now occur just four times a year. “I’ve talked about wanting to have all of the best players in the world play together,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Yeah, I guess this is good.” He also stressed that this arrangement isn’t wholly unusual. The Genesis Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the PGA Tour. Rahm is back in good standing with the European Tour, and the six LIV players—Hatton, David Puig, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, Laurie Canter and Tom McKibbin—remain eligible to compete in European events. All of them have played European Tour events while part of LIV. The rarity, this week, lies in being among the PGA Tour’s leading stars who are here to tune up for the British Open next week.
LIV previously staged a tournament in Spain during the Scottish Open week. Now the league, which will lose its Saudi funding after this season, has been on hiatus for a month and won’t resume until its UK stop immediately following the Open. Rahm expressed appreciation for the opportunity and for being able to participate in what he called “not only a great week but a great golf course, a great crowd.” He added that this event is one of his favorites, and it serves as strong preparation for The Open, which is part of why so many players have chosen to compete at the Scottish Open before it becomes a co-sanctioned affair. When asked if the atmosphere felt different, Rahm offered a concise, nonchalant reply: “No.”
A few bays down the practice range from Scheffler at The Renaissance Club stood fellow American Patrick Reed, who has not played a PGA Tour event since the 2022 Memorial before transitioning to LIV. Reed is no longer allied with the rival league, declining to renew his contract at the start of the year and working his way toward the top of the Race to Dubai. He remains banned from the PGA Tour until September, though he is competing in the Scottish Open as a European Tour member and intends to maintain a full European Tour schedule through the fall.
In appearance, this setting seems to signal golf’s reassembly. Perhaps more alignment is on the horizon. The sport faces considerable uncertainty for LIV Golf without Saudi funding beyond this season, with the expectation that if the venture endures past 2027, purses may be reduced and the tour streamlined. And there’s always the question of how this will affect the broader game and its fans, as the sport continues to navigate these cross-border, cross-organization dynamics.
From Rahm’s perspective, this week is more than a stopgap; it’s a reminder that the golf calendar can still bring together a remarkable slate of talent in a single event, even amid ongoing splits and shifting alliances. The Genesis Scottish Open, with its European and PGA Tour ties, offers a unique crossroads where cross-border rivalries soften temporarily, and the best players in the world share the same fairways, practicing for a major while celebrating a week that feels like a major in all but name. The broader question remains: what comes next for LIV Golf, for its players, and for the sport’s structure as a whole as negotiations, sponsorships and calendars continue to evolve? The answer is far from settled, but the Scottish Open has underscored that, for at least a few days, golf’s top names can converge with a sense of unity, even amid a landscape defined by competition and controversy.