Mcilroy set to play in Scottish Open as he decides to sit out Irish version

● Four-time major winner ready to use Renaissance event as Open warm up

Rory Mcilroy looks set to hand this year’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open a huge boost by opting to play in the Rolex Series event in East Lothian rather than the Irish Open the previous week.

The four-time major winner has not actually stated in public yet that he will be in the field for the Scottish Open’s first visit to The Renaissance Club from 11-14 July.

However, his comments about this year’s Irish Open at Lahinch, in an interview this week with the BBC, indicate that a visit to Scotland’s Golf Coast will be part of his preparations for The Open at Royal Portush. “If there is ever a year when I feel I can miss this Irish Open, it’s this year,” said Mcilroy, referring to the fact The Open is being held a fortnight later on Irish soil for the first time since 1951.

“If I was to play the Irish Open, the Open Championship would be my third event in a row. For me, that’s not the best way to prepare for what could be the biggest event of my life.”

The world No 8, who hosted the Irish Open for four years before handing over the reins to Paul Mcginley for this year’s event, added: “I love the Irish Open. I’ve supported it in my whole career.

“The people of Ireland are still going to see me playing golf because I’m going to play the Open Championship and 0 Rory Mcilroy: Looking for best preparation for Portrush.

I’m sure a lot of people will travel from down south.”

Mcilroy last played the Scottish Open in 2017, when he missed the cut at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire at a time when he was struggling with his game.

His previous appearance prior to that was at Royal Aberdeen in 2014, when he finished joint 14th then won The Open for the first time the following week at Royal Liverpool.

He was due to play in the 2015 event at Gullane before injuring himself playing football, also costing him the chance to defend the Claret Jug at St Andrews as well.

It is believed that Mcilroy paid a visit, though only a social one, to The Renaissance Club when he was in East Lothian towards the end of last year as a guest at Oliver Fisher’s wedding next door at Archerfield.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, has pulled out of next week’s Honda Classic.

The former world No 1 announced on Twitter he will be “taking next week off ” before playing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.

Woods spoke on Wednesday about the difficulty of arranging his schedule to optimise his preparation for the Masters in April, and said: “From here on out it’s very complicated.

“Next week [Honda Classic] is at home for me, then there’s a tournament that I’ve won eight times [Arnold Palmer Invitational], then another event I’ve won a couple of times [Players Championship] and then the week after is where I had an unbelievable week last year [Valspar Championship].”

That decision has now been made, with the upcoming event at PGA National in Florida missing out.

“Unfortunately, due to the schedule this year, I cannot play all the events I want to,” Woods tweeted. “I will be taking next week off.”

● Jordan Spieth’s caddie has left the Wgc-mexico Championship due to the death of his father. Michael Greller, the only caddie Spieth has had as a pro, learned that his father John had died on Tuesday night. Spieth’s father Shawn caddied for nine holes of practice yesterday and will be on his son’s bag for the rest of the tournament.