Justin Thomas believes the field for this week's Genesis Scottish Open is one of the strongest you will find outside of the Major Championships anywhere in the world, and he is "happy and proud" to be part of it.
The third Rolex Series event of the 2022 season will be contested by some of the biggest stars from both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, as 14 of the Official World Golf Ranking's top 15 battle it out at this week's co-sanctioned tournament.
Thomas knows it will not be easy to come out on top but is excited to try to put his name alongside the illustrious list of former winners of this event.
The two-time Major Champion recorded top-ten finishes in each of his last two appearances at the Scottish Open - in 2019 and 2021 - and he is looking forward to "a fun week" at The Renaissance Club.
He said: "If you throw out the Majors, I would have to think that this is going to be one of the two, three, four, best fields that we play the entire year, which you know, for the Scottish Open, for Scotland, for the DP World Tour, PGA TOUR, that's a huge deal, and it should be.
"Everybody involved should be very proud of that and I know I'm happy and proud to be here, and some very impressive and unbelievable players have not only played here but won this - not necessarily here, but this tournament.
"It's adding your name to that list. It's becoming a part of that history.
"It's something that I definitely want to be a part of but I've got 14 of the top 15 and plenty of other good ones to try to beat. So it will be a fun week."
Meanwhile, World Number One Scottie Scheffler is aiming for a big week back at the place where he tasted links golf for the first time.
The 26-year-old American said: "Scottish Open last year was [my] first one. This was the first links course I played and then St George's was the second. Fortunately this year, I came over and did the JP McManus Pro-Am on Monday and Tuesday and was fortunate enough, I played Lahinch and Ballybunion, so much fun. This style of golf is pretty cool to be able to play."
Scheffler tied for 12th in this event in 2021 and said: "I had a lot of fun at the tournament last year. The golf course is really good. It's in good shape again this year."
The Masters champion added: "When I go into a tournament, I'm just trying to show up and do my best. Links style of golf kind of came naturally to me when I came over last year. The shots that I saw or the shots that I was told I was going to need to learn how to play, and that's just kind of what I naturally saw when I showed up.
"Going into next week and this week, I'm looking forward to going out and experiencing the challenge and playing the different style of golf and seeing what the wind is like and just going out there and trying to do my best."
