Tuesday 7 July 2015 18:53, UK
American Matt Kuchar believes golfers cannot live life in a bubble to try to avoid the kind of injury which has sidelined Rory McIlroy.
World No 1 McIlroy suffered a serious ankle injury during a game of football with friends on Saturday and could be facing a lengthy lay-off as a result.
The 26-year-old has already pulled out of this week's Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and although he has refused to rule out defending his Open title at St Andrews next week as he can now walk a short distance unaided, the odds appear stacked against the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy's decision to play football in the middle of the season has been questioned in some quarters, but Kuchar knows from personal experience how injuries can be suffered in any circumstances.
The world No 17 missed last year's US PGA Championship at Valhalla - coincidentally won by McIlroy - after his back seized up when he was stuck in traffic after a shopping trip to buy a water slide for his children.
"I didn't even do anything," Kuchar said. "I just sat in a car for a long time and my back seized up and I wasn't able to play.
"It's never fun to miss any tournament and it would particularly be tough if he (McIlroy) had to miss the Open. But I don't think you can stop living your life.
"You can't form a bubble around yourself. You can walk down to the coffee shop and twist an ankle on your way. You can't protect everything. And so I don't think you stop doing what you've always done to this point.
"So it's too bad, but I don't want to say he made a terrible decision in doing what he did. It's just bad luck and those things happen."
Kuchar has not played competitively since finishing joint 12th in the US Open, a decision the 36-year-old found hard to take after being pleased with his performance at Chambers Bay.
"I feel as if my game is in very good shape," added the seven-time PGA Tour winner. "I played well at the US Open.
"I felt like I was doing a lot of good things. I had two weeks off and it was hard not to play because I knew I was on good form and I'm excited to be here, still on good form.
"There's a big part of the schedule still left for me, starting here through the British Open, and then it's just kind of one big tournament after the next starting from this week."
Kuchar believes competing at Gullane is ideal preparation for next week's Open, adding: "You're here, you acclimatise to the time, the weather, the golf. It's like a great tune-up.
"I played Loch Lomond a number of times and I love Loch Lomond, but I think what they have done with moving it to links golf is such a better formula to have players prepare to go to the British Open.
"We always talk about Wimbledon. You don't play a clay-court tournament the week before Wimbledon. You get to Queen's and you play the grass court at Queen's. I think coming over and doing a links Scottish Open is great."
Watch the Scottish Open live on Sky Sports 4 from 10am on Thursday.
