As the PGA Tour overhauls its schedule and competitive structure, Rory McIlroy wants to make sure one type of event doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
The term “national open” probably makes most golf fans think of two events, the U.S. Open and the British Open, now known as the Open Championship. But there are dozens of other national opens played on various tours around the world each year. This week’s Genesis Scottish Open is one of those.
The Scottish Open has seen a big boost in notoriety and field strength in recent years. In 2022, the PGA Tour began co-sanctioning the tournament alongside the DP World Tour, which has helped stage the event every year since 1986. That same season, Genesis signed on as the title sponsor. Since then, the list of Scottish Open champions consists of McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre and Chris Gotterup — all of whom are currently ranked inside the top 20 in the world.
The Scottish Open — which begins Thursday at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland — has become an excellent table-setter for the Open Championship, which always takes place the following week. It adds another week where U.K. fans get the chance to see the game’s biggest stars, while also allowing PGA Tour players (and American audiences) to adjust their body clock and re-familiarize themselves with links golf.
“I think since this event has been co-sanctioned, it really has went from strength-to-strength,” McIlroy said while speaking to the media at Renaissance Club on Wednesday. “You look at the quality of the field this week, you get a great sponsor like Genesis on board. They have kept making improvements to the golf course and the facilities each and every year. So I think for like these strong National Opens, this, to me, is the blueprint of what it can be and what can happen. Yeah, I think it’s a perfect lead-in to The Open Championship.”
McIlroy has the same vision for a different national open that also leads into a major.
“I’ve thought could the Canadian Open become co-sanctioned, as well, leading into the U.S. Open,” McIlroy said. “That could be interesting, as well, trying to build out this series of national opens that have a bit more meaning behind them. I don’t know how that fits into the Track 1 and Track 2 and all that stuff, but I see this event and I see how well it’s done over these past few years and I definitely I feel like it’s the blueprint for a lot of the other national opens.”
With the PGA Tour implementing a two-track system, there’s been much discussion about which tournaments belong on which tier. Track 1, which will be known as the Championship Series, will be more exclusive and will feature most of the Tour’s marquee events, with fields of 90-100 players, including the Tour’s top stars, competing for purses of $20 million.
But while most national opens have decades of history and pedigree, they don’t exactly hang their hat on exclusivity. The opposite, in fact. That’s one thing McIlroy wants to be sure the Tour avoids: infringing upon the sanctity of national opens. Namely, keeping them open to the everyman who wants to try his hand at qualifying.
“We’ve got to be careful with that because then these national opens lose the fabric of what they are, right. So that’s — you can’t call yourself a national open anymore if it’s a closed off tournament and there’s a certain number of guys.
“I think these events need to be treated differently than, you know, the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else that are going to be in the [Championship] Series. These tournaments need to have — there’s a little bit more nuance with these tournaments for sure.”
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Rory McIlroy wants to see the PGA Tour bolster but preserve national opens
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