The Scottish Open has this year lost some of its chief attractions as the warmup event before the British Open. Only one player from the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking has entered the $4 million event which starts at the exclusive Loch Lomond resort Thursday. However, the fact that it is the American left hander Phil Mickelson, the winner of this year's Masters, is significant. For also in the field is Graeme McDowell, the new U.S. Open champion, providing the tournament with the presence of 2010's two major winners. And Mickelson intends to use his first week in Scotland as a launching pad to adding the British Open to his career total of four major titles. Mickelson looked slightly out of sorts at his press conference Wednesday with a small cut by his temple. Initially he joked when explaining it, saying: "One of the other players and I just got in a little tiff". But then he added: "I don't know what happened. I just scratched myself accidentally." http://www.pgatour.com/2010/r/07/07/scottish-mickelson.ap/index.html
