This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Genesis Scottish Open
Course: The Renaissance Club (7,237 yards, par 70)
Purse: $9,000,000
Winner: $1,575,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
It might not be a Signature Event, but the field would certainly say otherwise. After a brief Midwest swing in Detroit and Quad Cities, almost all of the top ranked players on the PGA Tour will be back this week for the Genesis Scottish Open to get their feet wet on a links-style course ahead of the 152nd Open Championship next week at Royal Troon. Playing the Scottish Open the week before the Open Championship had become a trend amongst a number of top players over the last several years, but it went to the next level in 2022 when the PGA Tour and DP World Tour decided to co-sanction this event. Half the 156-man field would be players with PGA Tour membership and the other half with DP World Tour membership with points paid out on both sides, which really seemed to make this event even more of an easy add to the schedule for the top American players. This week's opposite-field event, the ISCO Championship, along with the Barracuda Championship next week, will both also be co-sanctioned and allow for additional playing opportunities for both memberships who didn't qualify for the Scottish Open or Open Championship to get some points with the FedExCup Playoffs approaching and the Race to Dubai starting to heat up.
All eyes at the Scottish Open will be on defending champion Rory McIlroy who will be making his first appearance since a devastating finish at the U.S. Open last month where he left the property without talking to the media. McIlroy will certainly have plenty of questions to answer this week while at the same time trying to get his game in order for Royal Troon and end that long major drought. PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele will be in the field in Scotland looking to win this even for the second time in three years. Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland are the other top-10 ranked players teeing it up at The Renaissance Club. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who won his last start at the Travelers Championship, is not playing the Scottish open. Scheffler will look to win for the seventh time this season at the year's final major. It's also worth noting that the Scottish Open is the final event of the Open Qualifying Series with three spots available to the top finishers not otherwise exempt. Davis Thompson and C.T. Pan claimed the two spots available at the John Deere Classic last week.
The Scottish Open dates back to 1972 when Neil Coles beat Brian Huggett in a playoff to win at Downfield Golf Club. The next year it would be played at the historic Old Course at St Andrews which was won by Graham Marsh. After some sponsorship issues, the event would not be held again until 1986, but has been contested every year since. There has been a number of different host courses over the years. The most common have been Gleneagles (1987-94) and Loch Lomond (1996-2010). The Renaissance Club has hosted since 2019 and is scheduled to host the event through 2026. The Tom Doak design was created in 2008 with the thought of being able to host big events like this in the coming years. While there are certainly more historic, and honestly much better, links courses in Scotland, The Renaissance Club still is able to provide a stern test if the conditions are right and get the top players on the signature fescue grasses ready for the final major of the year.
It will be your average summer day in the U.K. this week in North Berwick, Scotland. Temperatures will be in the 50s for most of the event with rain lurking throughout. The good news for the players is that the wind should be pretty mild for this part of the world. McIlroy won at 15-under-par last year by one shot over Robert MacIntyre in tough conditions on Sunday, but T3 was back at 10-under. In 2022, Schauffele won by one shot at just 7-under in windy and firm conditions almost all week. Given the expected winds and dampness of the course, somewhere in the 16-to-18-under range for a winning score doesn't seem too crazy.
Recent Champions
2023 - Rory McIlroy -15 (Renaissance)
2022 - Xander Schauffele -7 (Renaissance)
2021 - Min Woo Lee -18 (Renaissance)
2020 - Aaron Rai -11 (Renaissance)
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger -22 (Renaissance)
2018 - Brandon Stone -20 (Gullane)
2017 - Rafa Cabrera-Bello -13 (Dundonald)
2016 - Alex Noren -14 (Castle Stuart)
2015 - Rickie Fowler -12 (Gullane)
2014 - Justin Rose -16 (Royal Aberdeen)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
Champion's Profile
There really is no one specific formula to shooting good scores at The Renaissance Club. That certainly makes it exciting from a viewing perspective, but also makes it a bit challenging from a lineup construction perspective. SG: Off-the-Tee did seem to correlate well last year as you had McIlroy, Byeong Hun An and Scheffler rank 1-3 and all finish T3 or better in the event. On the other hand, David Lingmerth was 58th in SG: Off-the-Tee, but first in SG: Putting and also finished T3.
I wouldn't say that The Renaissance Club is a bombers paradise with the fescue rough and some deep fairway bunkers lurking, but if the long hitters are driving it well things get a lot easier, particularly with mild breezes and soft greens. That being said, I think scrambling and short game will be important in spots with there being some tricky green complexes and players having to deal with a lot of thin lies. Certainly warrants more attention in Scotland than it did in Quad Cities, Detroit or Cromwell for that matter.
This is a week where we should factor in a lot of current form and past history on links courses, or even better history at The Renaissance Club. For your typical PGA Tour-only player it can be tough to adapt to the different grasses and the way golf is played on the other side of the pond. That's one big thing players will notice right away is that it is harder to strike it pure on these fairways. The better iron players will always have an advantage in that regard. The same can be said of the greens, which will be much slower than anything from the U.S. Those who are more familiar with these conditions will certainly have a leg up starting the Scottish Open.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Xander Schauffele ($12,000)
As consistent as they come, Schauffele has finished top-25 in his last 12 straight starts and hasn't missed a cut since the 2022 Masters. During that top-25 streak he has logged eight top-10 finishes. His strokes gained chart looks like a giant pentagon because he's 28th or better in every category, including second in SG: Tee-to-Green. Schauffele won here in 2022 and was top-10 in 2021. He also has been T26 or better in all but one of his six Open Championship starts.
Ludvig Aberg ($11,600)
An elite driver and iron player, that formula will certainly work anywhere but especially on a course like this. Aberg ranks 12th in SG: Off-the-Tee, third in total driving, ninth in SG: Approach and seventh in proximity. The Swede's short game also deserves credit at 14th in scrambling and sixth in bogey-avoidance. Aberg has finished top-30 in 20 of his last 22 starts worldwide with two wins and 12 top-10s in that stretch. He's going to be there on Sunday again.
Tommy Fleetwood ($11,100)
Fleetwood loves the links and should be in the mix for his long-awaited first PGA Tour win. The Englishman has finished 2nd-T26-T4-T6 in four starts at The Renaissance Club and top-12 in four of his last five starts at the Open Championship. Fleetwood ranks 15th in total driving and 10th in scrambling this season. He also comes into the week having finished T26 or better in eight of his last nine starts overall.
The Middle Tier
Matt Fitzpatrick ($10,500)
Fitzpatrick hasn't been lighting it up of late apart from a T5 at the Memorial, but The Renaissance Club is a great spot for him to break out. He has played in all five editions since it moved here and collected two top-six finishes and three top-15s. Fitzpatrick has gained strokes on the greens each time to no surprise and he has gained strokes off the tee in his last five starts overall this season. The Englishman won't mind these chilly and rainy conditions at all.
Aaron Rai ($9,700)
The only real question here is energy after Rai was in the final group on Sunday at both the Rocket Mortgage and John Deere before finishing T2 and T7, respectively. Prior to that he was T14 in Canada and T19 at the U.S. Open. Rai is a former winner at The Renaissance Club (2020) and is quite familiar with the conditions that will be present this week. The Englishman is one of the most accurate ball-strikers and now has a ton of confidence on the greens.
Tom McKibbin ($9,000)
If you haven't been watching much of the DP World Tour this year, McKibbin has been popping up on leaderboards all over the place. He has finished top-25 in 11-of-13 starts, including a runner-up at the Italian Open a couple weeks ago. The 21-year-old is well on his way to earning a PGA Tour card and ranks fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee, eighth in GIR percentage, 27th in scrambling and seventh in scoring average on the DPWT. This is a week McKibbin could introduce himself to the world.
The Long Shots
Sebastian Soderberg ($8,500)
There is a certain degree of risk here with Soderberg still licking his wounds following an epic collapse at the Scandinavian Mixed in early June. The Swede has not played since, but on the glass half full side that runner-up was his fourth top-3 finish in five starts. Soderberg leads the DPWT in birdies per round and ranks sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green. If he's in the right frame of mind the upside at this price is tremendous, especially on a links course.
Andrew Novak ($8,100)
Novak is on another run like he had earlier this season with three straight top-20 finishes capitalized with a T7 at the John Deere. It gives his now four top-10s and nine top-30s in his last 14 starts. He ranks 18th on the PGA Tour in SG: Total behind stellar iron play and a red hot putter of late. Novak is also third in par-3 scoring average, which has added importance with there being five short holes at The Renaissance Club.
Bernd Wiesberger ($8,000)
Wiesberger has turned into one of the best iron players on the DP World Tour and that has led to very consistent results this season. He ranks eighth in SG: Approach and ninth in GIR percentage resulting in nine top-25 finishes in 12 starts. Wiesberger is also third in SG: Around-the-Green and fifth in scrambling this season. He knows how to get the job done at The Renaissance Club, taking home the trophy in 2019 following a tournament-record score of 22-under-par.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The strength of field rating for the Scottish Open is projected to be the fifth-highest of the season, just ahead of the Masters. This will no doubt be one of the hardest weeks to go 6-for-6 given the unique setup of having two different tours present and a golf course that plays much different that what a lot of players are used to. I mentioned above that there are plenty of ways to get the job done at The Renaissance Club whether that means great ball-striking, scrambling, putting or some combination of the three. That led me to highlighting players who have just been in great form over the last couple months and/or have a great history on links style courses. Another thing you always have to keep in mind when playing in this part of the world is the luck of the draw. Conditions can change on a dime and lead to one side of the wave having a big advantage going into the weekend. As of now it doesn't look like that will be the case this week, but if you like to make multiple lineups it's never a bad idea to grab six from one side of the wave and six from the other for Scottish Open week or the Open Championship next week.
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