Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open organisers surely will be strongly tempted to relive the final two rounds of last year's Open Championship with Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson set to tee-up at Dundonald.

Stenson officially confirmed he will again contest Scotland’s premier event and a week after past Masters Champion Adam Scott also indicated he would tee-up on the Ayrshire coast.

And joining the pair will be Mickelson, who went head-to-head with Stenson for the last 36-holes at Royal Troon, and who is again believed to have added the Scottish Open to his schedule, and a tournament he won in 2013 at Castle Stuart before seven days later capturing a first Open Championship title at Muirfield.

Stenson made his Scottish Open debut in 2001 at Loch Lomond and while he contested the event for the next four years, he took a break before returning in 2012 and teeing-up also in 2013 but then taking another two-year break before finishing T13th a year ago.

“I haven’t always played the Scottish Open because the times I played the Scottish Open I didn’t always play all that good the following week at The Open," said the Swede ahead of this week's PGA Tour Valspar Championship at the Innisbrook Resort near Tampa in Florida.

“But then I played last year at Castle Stuart and then went to Royal Troon, so we all know how that finished.

"So, it is again a very good reason to be playing in the Scottish Open in the week before The Open as it’s a great way for me to return to Europe and prepare for The Open

“And hearing also that Phil is going to also be playing the Scottish Open is another good reason to be playing the Scottish given I just love it when Phil’s in the field.

“He’s a great player and a great guy, and I’ve had some good matches with him throughout the years including last year at Royal Troon so I would love to battle it out with him at Dundonald.”

Stenson has not seen Dundonald Links but revealed he has a close friend who knows the course first hand and intends drawing on his knowledge.

“I know Dundonald is like a sister club to Loch Lomond and I’ve got a good friend back home who’s a member of Loch Lomond and has played a lot of Dundonald," he said..

“I know the course is not very old in terms of Scottish golf courses and I know the Scottish Ladies Open is taking place there after the men’s open.

“I will head to Royal Birkdale for a few days early that week so I guess it won't be to the Pro-Am when I get my first look at Dundonald, so I am hoping it is somewhat straight forward.

“But when you look at what Phil did a few years back winning the Scottish and then The Open, and then on top of what I managed to achieve last year it speaks volumes in adding the Scottish Open to my schedule.

“I recall a stat from last year that the top-four in The Open had all played the week before in the Scottish.

“And if you are going to be properly prepared for The Open you have to either go and play the Open course or play a links course somewhere or you have got to play the Scottish Open because coming straight from target golf we play over here in the States is not the answer”.

Stenson had been forced to pull out of last week’s WGC – Mexico Championship due to a stomach virus and something we now learn was raging including the Swede’s long-time caddy Gareth Lord still not feeling 100% ahead of this week’s Valspar Championship.

Before heading to Mexico City, Stenson revealed he played nine-holes on the Albany course in the Bahamas with Scottish legend Sir Sean Connery.

Stenson has long been a James ‘007’ Bond fan and was thrilled to partner the now 87-year old Scot.

“My favourite all-time Bond movie is Thunderball and that’s how our golf game came about as I was down at The Exhumas in the Bahamas, and I jumped into the Thunderball Grotto that James Bond had jumped into in the movie," said Stenson.

“There’s a guy I know who knows Sean’s son and he told his father, and then next thing I know I am getting a call if I want to play golf with Sean Connery.

“The funny thing is that I again watched the movie and seeing the special effects from back in 1965 when the movie was made to the effects they use in the Bond movies nowadays is amazing.

“I know Sean’s been a very, very keen golfer for years but he is 87 now and naturally he doesn’t quite have the distance though there’s no questioning his enthusiasm”.

Meanwhile, Scot Russell Knox reckons he's 'not a million miles away' from his best despite dropping outside the top-20 on the World Rankings for a first time since last October.

Knox missed the cut in last fortnight’s Honda Classic but then was among dozens to contract a stomach virus early last week in Mexico City ahead of finishing well down in 70th place.

Knox tees-up as World No. 21 in this week’s Valspar Championship in Tampa, and on a course boasting the famed ‘Snake Pit’- the closing three hole stretch of the Copperhead course at the Innisbrook Resort.

"I didn’t feel all that good for the first few days when I got to Mexico and I also struggled with the altitude," said Knox

“But then I did manage to shoot three under on Saturday and then got off to a bad start on Sunday and just lost it from thereon.

“I just didn’t play A1 but then I am not a million miles off from being where I want to be, and also there’s no alarm bells ringing.

“I know it wasn’t that long ago I felt I could win every tournament, so I’m not that far away from getting back to feeling that way”.

Knox is contesting this week’s $US 6.3m (£STG 5.16m) event for a fourth year running and with his best result T25th in 2014.

“I like playing here at Innisbrook as it’s a hard golf course as if you can shoot under par here you are playing very well," he added.

“The Snake Pit is a bit easier that the Bear Trap at PGA National but then the 16th here, and the first hole of the Snake Pit, is the harder of the six holes as it requires two pretty awesome shots with water all down the right side”