TWO of global golf’s biggest stars are set to light up the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club next month.

Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm – the current world number two and three – have confirmed their participation at the tournament, which takes place from July 8-11.

The two former world number one players bring further star power to an impressive field, with fellow top 10 stars Tyrrell Hatton, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schaufele already confirmed for the tournament, which was won last year by Aaron Rai.

Rahm was crowned European number one in 2019 as the swashbuckling Spaniard continued to impress on the world stage, and the 26-year-old will go in search of a fifth Rolex Series title when he makes his debut in Scotland’s national open this summer.

European Ryder Cup star Rahm, whose six European Tour victories include four on the Rolex Series at the 2017 and 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in the same seasons, said: “I’m looking forward to teeing it up at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open for the first time.

“I always enjoy playing in Rolex Series events, and I’ve had success in them in the past few years, so it will be pretty cool to try to add another title in Scotland this summer ahead of The Open.”

The tournament, being held in East Lothian for the fourth consecutive year, takes place a week before The Open at Royal St George’s.

READ MORE: Tickets go on sale for tournament

Major winner Thomas returns to the Renaissance Club after recording a top 10 finish on his 2019 debut in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

The 28-year-old former world number one is returning to where it all began, after making his first start as a professional in Scotland, the Home of Golf, at the 2013 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Thomas’s impressive CV includes the 2017 US PGA Championship and two World Golf Championship titles and, like Rahm, the American’s impressive form in recent years led to a Ryder Cup debut at Le Golf National in 2018.

He said: “I can’t wait to get back to Scotland and the Renaissance Club.

“I have a lot of good memories of playing in Scotland and it would be an awesome place to win a first Rolex Series title.

“I’ve said before it’s a goal of mine to win on different tours and in different countries, and I would love to be successful when I come back to the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open in July.”

Rahm will attempt to become the only the second Spaniard to win the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open title since the formation of the European Tour in 1972, after Rafa Cabrera Bello in 2017, while Thomas will look to follow in the footsteps of four fellow American winners – Michael Allen (1989), Tom Lehman (1997), Phil Mickelson (2013) and Rickie Fowler, who won just along the road at Gullane in 2015.

A strictly limited number of tickets are currently available for each of the four Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open competition days at ET.GOLF/ASISO2021

Tickets are priced at £10 for juniors (14-18 years), £30 for concessions and £35 for adults, with under-13s going free.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be available on site during the tournament.

A percentage of the tickets available for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open will be donated to key frontline workers in recognition of their dedicated work throughout the pandemic.

The only official sales channel to purchase tickets for the 2021 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open is via the ticketing platform Eventbrite.

The resale of tickets on unofficial platforms contravenes the European Tour’s ticket terms and conditions and such sales render the ticket void.