Scottish Open: Fans who were looking for Phil Mickelson yesterday on the eve of the Scottish Open needed to be not at Loch Lomond, but 50 miles away.
No prizes for guessing where: Royal Troon, the course on which Mickelson, winner of the Masters in April and second in the US Open three weeks ago, hopes to lift the British Open title on Sunday week.
The 34-year-old American opted out of the pro-am for this week's €3.27 million tournament to re-familiarise himself with links golf.
Padraig Harrington, having decided, like US Open and European Open champion Retief Goosen, to skip the Scottish Open, was also there, while this week's defending champion, Ernie Els, made his advance trip yesterday.
After the experience of Shinnecock Hills last month, where he was far from alone in not breaking 80 on the last day, world number two Els was delighted by what he saw at Troon.
He admitted he had some trepidation about what might lie in store, even more so with memories of the single-file fairways at Carnoustie five years ago and the quirky nature of Sandwich last summer. But he said: "I think it's set up very well.
"The rough is a factor, but it's not going to kill you. If we have decent weather the guys will score well. I thought we were going to see something brutal, but it's very fair."
The South African insists he wants to win this week, even though recent history shows it would mean he won't win next week.
In 2000, Els triumphed at Loch Lomond and then finished joint second, eight strokes behind Tiger Woods at St Andrews.
Two years ago he was 50th and then won the British Open at Muirfield. Last year he won the Scottish again and was 18th at Sandwich.
"Let's face it," he said, "when you win a tournament it's hard to go in the next week and do the same. But I'd love to win this again and hopefully change that little rut in a major.
"I hope I have a good week and have a chance to win on Sunday. I just want to find some form going in to Troon."
Els has been resting since the US Open - and needed to. That was his sixth event in a row, and he commented: "I thought I did very well just to be in contention at Shinnecock."
He was in the last group out on the final day with Goosen, but fell back to ninth while his compatriot won after Mickelson managed to double-bogey the penultimate hole.
"If I could have putted like I putted at the Memorial two weeks earlier (he won that) I might have had an outside chance, but the golf course definitely got away from us there. It was kind of sad in a way because it's such a great course.
"But, again, you have to come back to Retief. He made those putts - 12 singles in 18 holes for 71. That tells the whole story there. He kept his nerve and did he had to do. We can all make out excuses - I've made mine."
Mickelson's priorities can easily be understood. For someone who has been a world star for more than a decade his British Open record is dismal. The left-hander has had 19 top-10 finishes in the majors, but not one of them have come on this side of the Atlantic. His best was four years ago when he was 11th at the home of golf, 12 shots behind Woods. His next best was Troon in 1997. He was down in 24th, again 12 behind winner Justin Leonard.
Fellow American Mark Calcavecchia, winner at Troon in 1989 after a play-off with Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, is also in this week's field competing for a first prize of €545,208.
The European contingent includes five former holders of the title in Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Ian Woosnam and Barry Lane. Woosnam has still to qualify for Troon and his only chance now is to be the leading non-exempt player come Sunday night.
But Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Angel Cabrera and Wales Open champion Simon Khan are among the others looking for that spot.
Bjorn has no need to worry about that after finishing second to Ben Curtis last year, but after walking off after six holes of last week's European Open at the K Club and speaking about "fighting demons", he has decided to battle on rather than try to clear his head away from golf.
