Ian Poulter gives Scottish Open a boost by committing to play

Kaymer, Westwood and Wiesberger are also announced

Ian Poulter will be making his 16th Scottish Open appearance

Ryder Cup talisman Ian Poulter has handed next month’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open a boost by committing to the rescheduled event at The Renaissance Club.

It had been feared that some players wouldn’t be returning to the East Lothian venue after Rory McIlroy claimed the set up had been too easy for its first staging of the Rolex Series event last year.

But Florida-based Poulter is heading back on October 1-4, joining defending champion Bernd Wiesberger, two-time major winner Martin Kaymer and former world No.1 Lee Westwood in being announced in the first batch of players to confirm their participation.

Poulter will be making his 16th Scottish Open appearance, having carded rounds of 65-67-69-66 to finish in a tie for 14th behind Wiesberger in a low-scoring event last July.

Two years earlier, at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, the 12-time European Tour winner had victory in his sights after heading into the final round in a three-way tie for the lead before a closing 74 dropped him out of contention.

“Guess who is back at the Scottish Open this year?” wrote Poulter in a post on Twitter as he announced his spot in the second Rolex Series event on the reshaped 2020 Race to Dubai and the first since the resumption of the season following the Covid-19 lockdown.

Westwood, who won the event in 1998 when it was called the Standard Life Loch Lomond, visited The Renaissance Club last week for a Scottish Open warm up before heading across the Atlantic for this week’s US Open at Winged Foot.

“Great couple of days...love coming up here,” said the Englishman on social media in a post showing him teeing off at the signature hole that has Fidra Island as its backdrop.

Kaymer, who also lifted the title at Loch Lomond in 2009, will be heading to Scotland’s Golf Coast with a spring in his step, having been in fine form lately on the European Tour.

He was on course to win the UK Championship before being pipped by rising star Rasmus Hojgaard at The Belfry and coming close again when finishing second to American John Catlin in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.

Like Westwood, Austrian ace Wiesberger will be vying for a third Rolex Series victory when he tees up at The Renaissance Club, having also landed the Italian Open last year.