Welcome to the best time of the golf calendar. It’s links season, baby. Well, depending on whether you’re a purist who debates whether Scotland’s Renaissance Club really plays like a links test or not, but that’s besides the point.The Scottish Open is this week in East Lothian, the final tuneup before the Open Championship next week at Royal Birkdale, and this year the Scottish has a little more intrigue than normal.That’s because seven LIV golfers, led by Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, are in the field this week. From March to August, PGA Tour and LIV stars typically only meet at the four major championships. Or maybe they’ll see each other at an international offseason event. But the Scottish is technically part of the PGA Tour calendar.So you might be wondering how that’s possible and what it means. Let us explain.How they are all in the same fieldThe key is remembering that the Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (the European Tour), a core piece of the two tours’ “strategic alliance” since 2022. So DP World Tour players are eligible to compete.These seven LIV golfers are members of the DP World Tour and never resigned their membership, allowing them to remain eligible for the Ryder Cup. They are now also members without issue, with all seven settling a long dispute by paying outstanding fines and agreeing to play five tour events each season. In turn, they received conditional releases from the DPWT to play in conflicting LIV events going forward.Chris Gotterup wins for a third time in 2026So while, yes, technically Rahm and company are playing in a PGA Tour event, for their purposes they are really playing in a DP World Tour event.