If the breeze starts whipping in off the Firth of Forth at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian, then it will be matched by the winds of change currently blowing through the game as a whole.For the first time in several years, there is a growing sense of unity beginning to spread through men’s professional golf.A feeling that the civil war sparked by LIV Golf and the Saudis may finally be at an end, that the frostiness and strained relations between so many of the game’s top players may be starting to thaw.The presence of Jon Rahm at The Renaissance this week is emblematic of that shift, with the Spaniard playing in this event for the first time since 2022 and his subsequent defection to LIV.Brooks Koepka is another star name who is playing in the Scottish Open for the first time, having left LIV to move back to the PGA Tour earlier this year.Tyrrell Hatton is another LIV player and Ryder Cup star who is back in the field once again. For the last couple of years, the LIV event at Valderrama has clashed with the Scottish Open. LIV Golf star Jon Rahm is back at the Scottish Open after a short period of exile Englishman Tyrrell Hatton is another of the LIV Brigade teeing it up at the Renaissance ClubBut this is a free week for the LIV contingent and, coupled with their desire to start building bridges again with the main tours given the financial uncertainty with the Saudi-backed circuit, the stars have aligned in East Lothian.Asked if the return of Rahm and others feels like golf is starting to resume some kind of normality after the chaos of the past few years, Rory McIlroy said: ‘I mean, yeah. I’ve talked about wanting to have just all of the best players in the world play together.‘Yeah, I guess this is a good thing. It’s not as if this hasn’t been open to them before. It’s just because Valderrama was always this week.‘Having Jon in this event is better for the event than him not being here, and obviously everyone else that’s here, as well. That’s a good thing.’This is without question the strongest field in the history of the Scottish Open. If the event has gone from strength to strength since moving to The Renaissance, this is a new level.In total, 14 of the world’s top 20 players are playing this week. There are countless major champions, Ryder Cup stars and former World No1s.McIlroy is, of course, the star attraction, closely followed by home favourite and fellow past champion Bob MacIntyre.Beyond that, you have Rahm, World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg, Marco Penge, Ewen Ferguson, Tommy Fleetwood and Xander Schauffele.If that’s not enough, what about the two most recent major winners in Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark?Then we have defending champion Chris Gotterup, Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Patrick Reed, Koepka and Hatton. Tommy Fleetwood is one of several star names fans will flock to see in East Lothian this weekIt is a quite stupendous castlist, comfortably the strongest field ever assembled in the history of this event, and one of the strongest to be found anywhere outside the four majors.A co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, the total purse sits at $9million, with the winner pocketing a cheque for around $1.6m.McIlroy was critical of this venue when the event first came to The Renaissance back in 2019, claiming that it was too easy and that the birdie-fest was poor preparation for The Open the following week.Safe to say, it has grown on him. He claimed a stunning victory back in 2023 and has reeled off a string of impressive top-10 finishes over recent years.‘When I first came here, I wasn’t enamoured with the course or the place,’ said the Masters champion. ‘But as time has gone on and I’ve played it more, I’ve started to like it more and appreciate the golf course a little bit more.‘Yeah, it’s definitely become a great venue for this tournament. I’ve got some good memories, obviously winning a few years ago.‘We’ve stayed in the same house here for the last few years and we’re next door to the Fleetwoods (Tommy), and I was playing football with Frankie (Fleetwood’s son) last night. Yeah, all that stuff is cool.’McIlroy will tee it up with home favourite MacIntyre and defending champion Gotterup over the first two rounds.It has been quite a change of pace for MacIntyre this time in comparison to the frenzy that surrounded him last year. At that point, he arrived as the defending champion and hot on the back of an agonising near miss in the US Open at Oakmont.His preparations for this home event this year have been fairly low-key in comparison, which is exactly how he likes it.Asked if he feels he is coming in under the radar this season, MacIntyre said: ‘Yeah, I do. Former LIV golfer Brooks Koepka will also play in this week’s Scottish Open‘I feel like this year, especially, I’m able to do my own stuff. I’m not getting pulled. I’m able to arrive here, do my work Monday, Tuesday, Pro-Am, and do this stuff today.‘I just feel like — I think I’m learning how to manage things. I think everyone in the team is managing it well, and they know that I’m probably going to be late; if I say 7.00, I’m going to be there quarter past seven. Yeah, things drag on. I feel good. ‘My game wasn’t in a great spot but I feel like it’s really come on, especially the Travelers, which was probably one of my best, outside of Valero. That was my best week approach-play-wise, which we have been really working hard on. I feel like I’m in a good spot.’Whatever happens, it promises to be four days of world-class golf at The Renaissance.The weather forecast looks good and there is a chance that the course could be playing fast and firm, with the rough also a lot thicker than in previous years.In so many ways, it’ll be ideal preparation for what awaits these players at Birkdale next week.To see so many of the game’s top players back together again in an event outside the majors, it also feels like golf’s healing process is well under way.