Scottish Open will return to Castle Stuart in 2016

ABERDEEN, Scotland (AP) -- The Scottish Open will return to Castle Stuart in 2016, a course that Rory McIlroy has said doesn't provide a "true links test" for golfers in the run-up to the British Open.

Organizers announced Sunday that the event will be staged at Gullane in 2015 and then return to Castle Stuart in Inverness, which hosted the Scottish Open from 2011-13.

The winners of the British Open in those three years all played at Castle Stuart a week earlier, but McIlroy chose to skip it each time. He said this week that it was "quite an American-style golf course, big, wide fairways (and) big, undulating greens."

Stuart McColm, general manager at Castle Stuart, shrugged off the criticism by saying "Rory has never played there."

Former world No. 1 McIlroy is currently playing at this year's Scottish Open, which is being staged at Royal Aberdeen