IAN POULTER admits he put his family before the fairway as he snubbed the chance to appear at his month's Open championship at Royal Troon.
Sergio Garcia last week saw his chance to record a maiden Open triumph collapse in qualifying amid a row over crowds and slow play.
And now his fellow Europe Ryder Cup hero has been opening up on the reasons why he WON'T be making an appearance at Ayrshire either.
Larger-than-life Ryder Cup hero Poulter now plays his golf on the LIV Tour, rather than the European Tour or DP World Tour as it's currently known.
And the former World No 5 is now ranked outside the world's top 600 players, which means he no longer qualifies for automatic invite to the Open.
He could have attempted to pre-qualify alongside the likes of Garcia and Justin Rose, but instead he chose to spend the week on HOLIDAY with his family in Switzerland.
He's back in the UK just now but is making more time for his family - with further trips planned out to Germany to support England at Euro 2024 and then Silverstone for the Formula One.
He told TalkSPORT: "You've got the Scottish Open but unfortunately I wont' be there because I'm not a member of the European Tour/DP World Tour any more.
"And I won't be at the Open either.
"Look, my world ranking isn't high enough to get into the Open Championship.
"I have the ability to go and qualify, I didn't.
"I was on holiday with the family in Switzerland instead.
"That is what LIV has given me, a bit more family time.
"I've still got a busy schedule with LIV, playing 14 tournaments.
"Who knows, if at some stage, they allow us the chance at some stage to come back and support the Ryder Cup team, we will see how it works out."
With LIV star Bryson DeChambeau overcoming Rory McIlroy down the stretch to land the US Open, Poulter is convinced that LIV is gaining traction ahead of the Liv Golf UK event in Staffordshire at the end of the month.
He said: "LIV has gained a lot of traction certainly in the last 12 months.
"That's with Bryson winning, and lots of guys doing some great things on the golf course. The mood change has swung.
"But I think everyone who watches golf felt for Rory when he missed that putt.
"It wasn't an easy hole, he left himself just the wrong side of the putt
"A four foot left to righter is the kind of putt you don't want under that much pressure.
"It was a shame to see someone go through that pain because there's always a loser in sport at the end of the day."