\n<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to be careful with that because then these national opens lose the fabric of what they are,” said McIlroy, the two-time Masters champion.<\/p>\n
“You can’t call yourself a national open any more if it’s a closed-off tournament and there’s a certain number of guys.<\/p>\n
“These events need to be treated differently than the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else is going to be in the Championship series.”<\/p>\n
The Scottish Open has been co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World Tours since 2022.<\/p>\n
That means it can be played by members of either tour if they are ranked high enough to be eligible for the 156-man field.<\/p>\n
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s approved plan is for the Championship tier to feature fields of about 120 players competing for prize funds of at least $20m (\u00a315m).<\/p>\n
The Scottish Open purse is \u00a36.7m, but MacIntyre said: “I personally think the Scottish Open is going to be totally fine.<\/p>\n
“I don’t see it being a $20m event. I see it being a Rolex Series\/European Tour event. It would be a bit mad to put a $20m event in Scotland given the world we live in today. It’s not the same as America.”<\/p>\n
Many leading Americans are pleased to play in the Scottish Open in order to hone their games on a seaside links before The Open the following week.<\/p>\n
“It needs to work within the new schedule,” said world number one and reigning Open champion Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n
“It’s an important one that we keep it in the Championship Series just because you get so many guys that come over here and play the week before [The Open].”<\/p>\n
Scheffler said it is “hard to tell” whether the field should also include DP World Tour players under the new set-up.<\/p>\n
“Golf is so difficult to rank players when they are not playing together all the time,” said the 30-year-old American.<\/p>\n
“Having similar guys playing against each other on great golf courses week in and week out is the best way to set up our schedule.<\/p>\n
“To have this tournament fit into that mould would be really nice.”<\/p>\n
Scheffler is in the afternoon wave of starters for the first round of the Scottish Open on Thursday, teeing off at 13:43 (BST) alongside Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood.<\/p>\n
McIlroy is off at 08:28 with MacIntyre and Chris Gotterup for company at the Tom Doak-designed East Lothian links.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n