The Renaissance Club in North Berwick plays host
The Open Championship takes place at Royal Troon, Scotland, next week
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler skips this event
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Player | Odds |
---|---|
Rory McIlroy | +650 BET HERE |
Xander Schauffele | +850 BET HERE |
Collin Morikawa | +1400 BET HERE |
Ludvig Aberg | +1600 BET HERE |
Tommy Fleetwood | +1600 BET HERE |
Viktor Hovland | +1600 BET HERE |
Tom Kim | +2500 BET HERE |
Min Woo Lee | +2800 BET HERE |
Hideki Matsuyama | +2800 BET HERE |
Matt Fitzpatrick | +3300 BET HERE |
Tommy Fleetwood each-way at +1800 with bet365 (1/5 odds 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8)
Min Woo Lee to beat Hideki Matsuyama over 72 holes at +100 with bet365
Erik Van Rooyen for Top 10 at +700 with bet365
For the third straight year, the PGA TOUR co-sanctions the Genesis Scottish Open.
And that means a world-class field heads to The Renaissance Club in North Berwick once more.
It certainly makes a lot of logistical sense with this year’s Open Championship taking place about a two-hour drive away at Royal Troon the week after.
But not everyone is taking advantage of a links warm-up and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is the most notable absentee.
Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay are among the other big names to sit this one out.
That leaves Rory McIlroy at the front of the betting as he looks to repeat his dramatic victory in this event last year.
The Renaissance Club, situated next door to Muirfield where Phil Mickelson won the 2013 Open, plays host for the sixth consecutive year.
It’s a par 70 measuring just over 7,200 yards. As with many links courses its best defence is the wind and it’s very often a factor.
It blew two years ago and Xander Schauffele won with just 7-under while, rather unusually, the last eight editions of the Scottish Open have been won by eight different nationalities.
The forecast this week suggests a fair amount of rain but lightish breezes around 10mph.
Year | Champion, nationality and winning score |
---|---|
2023 | Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) -15 |
2022 | Xander Schauffele (United States) -7 |
2021 | Min Woo Lee (Australia) -18 |
2020 | Aaron Rai (England) -11 |
2019 | Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) -22 |
*There was no tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic
The Renaissance Club is a par 70 and measures 7,237 yards
The tournament became a Rolex Series event in 2017
From 2022 it’s been co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour
Bernd Wiesberger posted the 72-hole record of 262 in 2019
Wiesberger and Byeong Hun An hold the 18-hole record of 61
McIlroy looked set to be pipped by local star Robert MacIntyre last year but, in testing conditions and playing the tough 17th and 18th, he finished birdie-birdie to score a dramatic win. That wiped out the previous modest course form of MC-34. This is the first time we’ll see the Northern Irishman in action since his gut-wrenching loss at the US Open.
Bet on Rory McIlroy (+650) at BetMGM
Schauffele must be a big contender for the Claret Jug next week and that’s partly down to showing his links prowess by winning this tournament two years ago. That followed a 10th on debut in 2021. He’ll play it as a Major winner for the first time, his PGA Championship win the highlight of a high-class season showing seven top 10s in his last 10 starts.
Bet on Xander Schauffele (+850) at BetMGM
Like McIlroy, Morikawa is also a former Open winner although he didn’t exactly telegraph that win at Royal St George’s in 2021 after finishing 71st here the week before. He also missed the cut on his only other appearance in 2022. His current form paints a far brighter picture: three top fours and three further top 16s in his last six starts.
Collin Morikawa (+1400) at BetMGM at BetMGM
Tommy Fleetwood captured his seventh DP World Tour win when landing the Dubai Invitational at the start of January.
But he still remains without a PGA TOUR title to his name.
This could be his golden chance though: a co-sanctioned PGA TOUR event played on Scottish soil.
The Englishman’s first-ever DP World Tour win came in Scotland when he landed the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and he’s had plenty of other big performances there including two second places at the Alfred Dunhill Links.
He’s also been a runner-up here on his Renaissance Club debut in 2020 while he’s since added fourth in 2022 and sixth last year so is very much a course horse.
Fleetwood has had an excellent season, with finishes of third (Masters), 26th (PGA Championship) and 16th (U.S. Open) in the three Majors.
In fact, he’s only been outside the top 26 in one of his last nine worldwide starts.
Fleetwood ranked 2nd for Strokes Gained: Approach when 15th at the Travelers Championship last time and his short game has been strong all season.
Back him each-way at +1800 with bet365 (1/5 odds 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8).
We landed the 72-hole match bet last week by picking Rocket Mortgage winner Davis Thompson to beat Jason Day. He did so by 12.
Thompson was also pointed out as a good option in the ‘win’ market at +2500.
This week I’ll back the outsider and get with Min Woo Lee to beat Hideki Matsuyama at +100 with bet365.
Lee won this event in 2021 and has two other top 35s at the Renaissance.
By contrast, Matsuyama crashed out at halfway on his only visit in 2022, was 68th in the Open at St Andrews that same year and has missed four of his last five cuts in Scotland.
Lee was 21st at St Andrews in 2022 and finished runner-up at the Rocket Mortgage Classic on his latest start.
Even though Matsuyama is in good form too, Lee’s course form gives him the nod.
Erik Van Rooyen heads to Scotland on the back of a sixth place in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The South African now has four top 10s in his last 12 starts and is a good bet here to land another at +700 with bet365 Sportsbook.
Van Rooyen, a big lover of links golf, was sixth here in 2020, the halfway leader in 2019 and fired a 63 in round two last year.
Tournament: Genesis Scottish Open
Location: The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland
Date: Thursday, July 11 - Sunday, July 14
How to Watch: Thursday-Friday 10.30 a.m.-11 a.m. ET (Golf Channel - world feed), 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (Golf Channel), 12 p.m.-3 p.m. (CBS). And all four days on Sky Sports.
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