EDDIE Pepperell tees off north of the border this morning looking to acclimatise to Scottish links conditions and fine tune his game ahead of The Open Championship.

A week today the Abingdon golfer will be at St Andrews, but he knows the importance of finding form at the Scottish Open over the next four days.

Hosted at Gullane, east of Edinburgh, it should provide a useful dress rehearsal ahead of the 24-yearold’s Open debut at the home of golf.

Pepperell believes it will benefit one area of his game in particular.

“When I’ve played links courses in the last few years I’ve struggled with the pace of the greens,” he said.

“They are so much slower, so I always find them difficult to match my pace to how I like it on regular tour events.

“But with The Open being the week after Gullane, it shouldn’t be a big issue.

“Pace is definitely a big thing on the greens up there.

“They never look that great, the grass is always scruffy-looking, but they do roll quite well.

“It’s just going to be about really making sure you’ve got the pace of the greens, because then holing putts becomes so much easier.”

The world No 105 briefly considered withdrawing from the Scottish Open after a back problem forced him to retire before Sunday’s final round at the French Open.

But he hopes reducing the number of full swings before rounds will ensure the problem does not recur.

While the Frilford Heath player recorded the best result of his career in May, losing in a play-off for the Irish Open, it is his only top-40 finish in the last eight outings.

And Pepperell is well aware a strong showing at St Andrews will be very difficult without playing well this week.

He said: “I can draw on the experiences I had in Ireland and the way I played on the weekend and carried myself.

“But I recognise if I’ve not played well (beforehand) I’m not going to turn up on the first tee at St Andrews feeling confident because of what happened two months ago.

“The No 1 thing to get right is your game.”

Pepperell’s first round at Gullane begins at 10.40am, alongside the Spanish pair of Jorge Campillo and Pedro Oriol.