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After Novak Djokovic won his first-round match at Wimbledon on Monday, he was reminded in an on-court interview directly after the match that it had been 700 days since he had played in that tournament. Last year, Wimbledon was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And that reminded me that it has been just as long since an Open Championship was played. Since Shane Lowry walked with his arms spread in triumph up the 18th hole at Royal Portrush in 2019, six majors have been played, none of them hosted by the R&A.

Because of this reality, there could be more emphasis than ever placed on the weeks ahead of the 2021 Open at Royal St. George's. It's not uncommon for a few top players to play an event or two in Europe in the weeks ahead of The Open, but next week's Scottish Open field looks like a facsimile of the OWGR top 10 list. Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy will all be in attendance.

McIlroy is also playing in this week's Irish Open at Mount Juliet, which does not have the look or feel of a traditional links course like next week will. The Irish Open will not serve as prep work for The Open, but there is excitement for many Europeans who have been playing almost exclusively in the U.S. since the PGA Tour returned to golf last summer. McIlroy was compelled to play for the first time in three years, and because of more stringent travel restrictions in Europe than in the United States, he decided to make a full three-week trip out of it.

"Plans changed very quickly," said McIlroy. "We made the decision that I would travel on my own, and … I wasn't going to go back to the States for one week in between the Irish and The Open. I thought if I'm here, I might as well play the Scottish. So it sort of went quickly from [my family] coming to them not coming, and then me playing three events in a row."

Playing Mount Juliet this week at the Irish Open will not be proper preparation for Royal St. George's. Fellow Open winner (and Irish Open winner) Lowry said there's not a ton to take and apply to The Open in terms of the course (that will happen at the Scottish). But there's still a sense of accumulating momentum from the Irish Open into the Scottish Open and into the Open Championship.

"The only thing I'd be looking to take forward from this week is having a good week and building confidence," said Lowry. "There's probably nothing you can take away from this week that will help me at St. George's in my game apart from building confidence. More of a mental thing."

There's plenty at stake for the rest of this week's Irish Open field, too, as three spots in The Open in two weeks will be handed out to the top three finishers at this event who make the cut and are not already in the field at Royal St. George's. Obviously Lowry and McIlroy don't have to worry about that, but another major winner (and Ulsterman), Graeme McDowell, does.

"Of course getting into The Open Championship at St. George's, having missed the first three major championships this year, and importantly, missing the U.S. Open was very disappointing and these are the little things that kind of give you a kick of motivation and desire," said McDowell. "Like I said, love to make this into a three-week trip.

"And I was going to go to The Open qualifier at Lytham yesterday, but then when they brought in the three spots here and the three spots in Scotland, I thought that preparing well for these two weeks was probably my best way in. Definitely excited and definitely be out there trying very, very hard to be at The Open Championship."

Coffee golf here in the U.S. begins on Thursday with a fun field at another national open. That's worth paying attention to even if the true links prep doesn't begin until next week in Scotland. With Wimbledon continuing for the duration of both of those tournaments and all of it ending just before Royal St. George's begins, it's clear that all the attention in this area of the world will soon culminate by turning back to The Open in England -- for the first time in 24 months.