麦克罗伊警告PGA：苏格兰公开赛不能变成封闭赛事

Rory McIlroy urged the PGA Tour to "be careful" with the Scottish Open as significant schedule changes loom for 2028.

The American circuit is moving towards a two-tier model that will introduce more US$20 million events with restricted fields for top golfers. A Challenger series will run concurrently, with players from that tier barred from competing in the Championship series — and vice-versa — unless they win two events in the same season to earn promotion.

The Scottish Open will not qualify for Championship status. So although 14 of the world's top 20 are competing this week at Renaissance Club in North Berwick, a large majority would be ineligible to play from 2028 onwards.

"We've got to be careful with that because then these national Opens lose the fabric of what they are," said McIlroy. "You can't call yourself a national Open anymore if it's a closed off tournament and there's a certain number of guys. These events need to be treated differently than the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else is going to be in the Champions Series. There's a little bit more nuance with these tournaments for sure."

The Masters champion, who co-sanctions this week's event with the DP World Tour, has been spending the summer at his new home in Wentworth. But after recently enjoying four days "down in Cornwall with the Donalds and the Lowrys," his hopes of an under-the-radar practice round before next week's Open were shattered when Sir Nick Faldo posted it on social media after meeting him at Royal Birkdale.

"I would have liked to have not had it known that I was there, but Faldo couldn't put his phone away!" joked McIlroy, who was criticised by some for spending so much time at Augusta before his successful Masters defence. He added that it was "just getting an early look at new holes and means it takes pressure off the start of the week."

Scotsman Bob MacIntyre admitted it would not make sense to elevate his home event for just the elite. "I think it would be a bit mad to put a $20m event in Scotland when the world we live in today, I mean, it's not the same as America. It's more realistic on the money side of it," said the left-hander, who is paired with McIlroy and defending champion Chris Gotterup for the first two days.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, who defends his Open title at Birkdale next week, is paired with England's Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick. "I didn't come over here just for smoke and prep. I came over here to play golf and play well," Scheffler said. "I don't think I've played in the final group here yet, so it would be nice to get up near the lead and experience that as well."

With the Scottish Open being co-sanctioned, Jon Rahm is set to play a first.