DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Genesis Scottish Open Cash and GPP Strategy

GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN

Purse: $9M
Winner's Share: $1.62M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: North Berwick, Scotland
Course: The Renaissance Club
Yardage: 7,282
Par: 71
2025 champion: Chris Gotterup

Tournament Preview

PGA Tour golfers and LIV golfers will play in the same tournament this week -- and it's not a major.

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton head a list of seven LIV golfers in the field for the Scottish Open alongside the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, adding some extra spice to the final tuneup for next week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

The Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours, and that's how the LIV guys got in, via their DPWT affiliation. Rahm, Hatton and others have paid all their fines to the DPWT and made amends, and thus are allowed to compete, just like other LIV golfers have been playing in DPWT events -- just not one sanctioned by the PGA Tour.

Of course, this could be the one and only time this happens, with the potential imminent demise of LIV, but there's no need to go there right now. [Editor's note: He just went there.]

This is what everybody has wanted -- say it out loud along with us -- the best golfers playing against each other more often. And while we're sure most everybody will be happy with Scheffler, McIlroy and Rahm on the same golf course, there are some notable names missing. Three of the top-10 in the world rankings in Cameron Young, Russell Henley and even Justin Rose are not entered, along with three more top-25s in Sam Burns, Ben Griffin and Akshay Bhatia (Bhatia was 25th when the field was published). The same goes for Bryson DeChambeau and Joaquin Niemann of LIV.

A lot of players like to take the week off before a major. Perfectly understandable. But the Scottish Open provides two advantages to PGA Tour players that other pre-major tournaments do not. For one, it allows them to fully adapt to the massive time change before next week's Open Championship. Second, it gives them a taste of links golf. The Renaissance Club is not a true links course -- let's call it links-adjacent -- but it surely provides more prep than the courses they've been playing on all season in the States.

It was almost five years ago that the PGA and DP World tours announced a "strategic alliance," and it was such a big deal at the time that they used all caps in the press release: STRATEGIC ALLIANCE. It was in response to the emergence of LIV, and the partnership has since expanded in other ways. For instance, 10 DP World Tour players earn PGA Tour cards each season. Additionally, 50 spots were reserved for DP World Tour players in this week's opposite-field ISCO Championship being played in Kentucky.

In all, there will be 75 PGA Tour pros and 75 DP World Tour pros in the 156-man Scottish field, along with three from the Korean Tour (because of Seoul-based Genesis) and four sponsor invites. Yes, that adds up to 157. But the sponsor invites could be included in each tour's 75-man complement. We promise, there are 156 in the field.

This will be the eighth year the tournament will be played at the Renaissance Club (pronounced Reh-NAY-sahnse), which sits along the Firth of Forth right next to Muirfield on Scotland's "Golf Coast" 20 miles east of Edinburgh. The North Sea lurks.

It may sound hundreds of years old, hallowed ground where the likes of Old Tom Morris once lurked, but the Tom Doak design has been around only since 2008. So it is not a historic links course. Further, the Renaissance Club was carved out of an old pine forest. But it does look and play, um, "linksy." Consider it a links/parkland hybrid, though links traditionalists, whoever they might be, surely would disagree.

The fairways are pretty wide, like on true links courses, and there also are deep bunkers. Some holes run along the coast. And there's gorse and thick fescue, two words all of us U.S.-based golf fans love to hear around this time of year. The large greens are fescue-based. But there are still some trees, creating an odd visual for links golf.

There are five par-3s and three par-5s on the par-70 track. The hardest holes traditionally have been the long par-4s, notably the 505-yard 7th, 488-yard 15th and 483-yard 18th.

The course's biggest defense is weather, which of course is common in the U.K. Bernd Wiesberger won the first go-round at Renaissance in 2019 at 22-under, which is still the best for the tournament there. The past three years, McIlroy won at 15-under, Robert MacIntyre at 18 and last year Chris Gotterup at 15.

As for this year's weather, after a mostly calm Thursday, Friday and Saturday are forecast to be very windy and Sunday pretty windy. Otherwise, highs will be in the 60s and there isn't much chance of rain -- but it's Scotland so you never know.

Scottish Open notes: There are three spots remaining in next week's Open Championship, and they are being held for the highest non-exempt finishers in the Scottish Open (provided they make the cut), as the last of the 11 events in the Open Qualifying Series. ... Separately, the tournament is part of the Rolex Series, the top tier of tournaments on the DP World Tour. There are only five.

Fun Scottish Open factoids: None other than David Feherty won the third edition of the Scottish Open in 1986, beating Ian Baker-Finch and Christy O'Conner Jr. in a playoff at Haggs Castle. The Scottish Open may sound like it's a hundred years old, but it was first played in 1972 and '73, then took a 13-year hiatus before Northern Ireland's Feherty won it.

Key Stats to Winning at The Renaissance Club

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green/Scrambling (especially if windy conditions)
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par-3 Efficiency 200-225 yards (in windy conditions)
• Par-4 Efficiency 450-500 yards
• Par-5 Efficiency 550-600 yards (in calmer conditions) 

Past Champions

2025 - Chris Gotterup (Renaissance Club)
2024 - Robert MacIntyre (Renaissance Club)
2023 - Rory McIlroy (Renaissance Club)
2022 - Xander Schauffele (Renaissance Club)
2021 - Min Woo Lee (Renaissance Club)
2020 - Aaron Rai (Renaissance Club)
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger (Renaissance Club)
2018 - Brandon Stone
2017 - Rafa Cabrera-Bello
2016 - Alex Noren

Champion's Profile

The Renaissance Club has been the host club of this tournament for seven years, though it's only the past four that featured stronger fields with a big influx of PGA Tour players.

As is always the case in the U.K., much is dependent on the weather. Schauffele won at 7-under in windy conditions. But the past three years featured more benign conditions and the winning score was in the mid to upper teens. We could see that again.

Here's an interesting statistical tidbit from last year: Gotterup, who won at 15-under, and Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge, who tied for second at 13-under, all finished in the top-4 in the field in scrambling. Gotterup and McIlroy were both top-5 in SG: Putting, with Penge not to far off at 14th.

None of the three was especially accurate off the tee or with their irons.

Two years ago, MacIntyre and runner-up Adam Scott finished 25th and 68th in scrambling. MacIntyre ranked sixth in Approach and 16th in Putting.

Hmmm. So it appears there are multiple ways to succeed at the Renaissance Club.

But you rarely go wrong with good scramblers in the U.K., where there isn't the same premium on driving that we see in the States.

The over/under on the winner score at the DraftKings Sportsbook is 263.5 -- 20.5 under par, so they are expecting more calm conditions.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $14,000 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +490)
We certainly didn't like what we saw from Scheffler on Sunday at the Travelers -- or on Monday. But that's only because he is held to a higher standard. He tied for eighth here last year and for third in 2023. If you haven't noticed lately, Scheffler has greatly improved the one weakness in his game, as he's now up to eighth on Tour in SG: Approach. He's first in scrambling. His worst SG category is Putting - he's ranked 12th. How insanely good is that?

Rory McIlroy - $12,000 (+960)
There's little in what we've seen of McIlroy lately to suggest he'll be a factor this week. But what we have seen of him in the Scottish Open and Open Championship virtually every year tells us he will be in the mix. In the past three years at the Renaissance Club, McIlroy has gone win-fourth-second playing in front of galleries that adore him.

$9,000-$9,900

Matt Fitzpatrick - $9,900 (+2100)
The $9,000s were extremely difficult for us; it was the most difficult dollar range we've seen in some time. We couldn't stop at just two picks and probably could've gone with all eight in this range. But we start with Fitzpatrick, who is playing the best golf of his career and now for the next two weeks will play a brand of golf he's more familiar with. In the past five years here, Fitzpatrick has finished second, sixth and, last year, fourth. He is ranked second on Tour in SG: Approach and first in SG: Around-the-Green.

Tommy Fleetwood - $9,400 (+2000)
When we think of superior wedge play, Fleetwood is one of the first guys who comes to mind. He is ranked third on Tour in SG: ATG and fourth in scrambling. He wasn't exceptional here the past two years -- though a lot of guys would settle for twins T34s. But in the four years prior, he was second, fourth and sixth.

Wyndham Clark - $9,200 (+3300)
In four years at Renaissance Club, Clark has finished 16-25-10-11. And now he's playing the best golf of his life, seemingly having gotten his swing -- and his demons -- under control. He's ranked 16th in SG: Approach and SG:T2G, ninth in SG: ATG and 25th in SG: Putting. There simply is no weakness there.

$8,000-$8,900

Tyrrell Hatton - $8,900 (+3300)
Hatton hasn't played here the past two years. But in 2023, he tied for sixth. He's another great wedge player (and a great everything else player, too). Going against the top PGA Tour guys he will face this week, Hatton tied for third at the Masters and for seventh at the U.S. Open. And he won the most recent LIV tournament at Andalucia.

Nicolai Hojgaard - $8,000 (+4800) 
Hojgaard's breakthrough season hit some speed bumps with three consecutive missed cuts at the Memorial, Canadian Open and U.S. Open. He got back on track with a tie for 14th at the Travelers and, based on his FedEx Cup standing, would still be in the TOUR Championship if it started today. Hojgaard is not an elite wedge player -- he's ranked 52nd in SG: ATG. But when that's your worst SG metric, that's pretty dang good. He tied for fourth here last year and for sixth in 2023.

$7,000-$7,900

Alex Fitzpatrick - $7,900 (+5300)
Fitzpatrick missed the cut here the past two years, but that was a lifetime ago for one of the hottest players in the world. It's wild that he is ranked 17th in the FedExCup Standings without having enough measured rounds to qualify for the statistical leaderboards.

Patrick Reed - $7,700 (+6300)
Any time short game takes center stage, sign us up for some shares of Reed. He doesn't come in with the greatest form, and he's never played this course. But that's offset by a price that could fit in any lineup.

Brian Harman - $7,300 (+13000)
Harman has not had the beat season. He's been good, far from great. But he's now on the brink of playoff position, 72nd in points, after a quality week at the Travelers in which he tied for 25th thanks to strong approach play. We know how creative Harman can be when he needs to be, as he's shown here. He tied for 12th here in 2023 and for 21st in 2024, and he made the cut again last year.

$6,000-$6,900

Jayden Schaper - $6,900 (+26000)
The South African burst onto the world stage late last year by finishing second, first and first in a three-week span in his homeland to move into the top 50 in the world. He's since fallen back, but he is holding his own on the DP World Tour in 2026. Schaper is ranked top-20 on the DPWT in SG: Approach, Tee-to-Green, Around-the-Green and greens in regulation. Plus he's ranked 36th in SG: Putting. Sure, this is big step up in class, and he missed the cut at the past two majors, but he's held his own in some of the bigger DPWT events.

Oliver Lindell - $6,600 (+34000)
The 27-year-old Finn is at his highest OWGR standing ever at No. 114. That's because he went 2-T6-T13 over his past three DP World Tour starts and hasn't missed a cut in 21 starts since last year's Open -- so, basically, a calendar year. Lindell played in his first career major at the 2025 Open, tying for 25th, but as of now he's not in the 2026 field. He has a lot riding on this week.

Richard Mansell - $6,300 (+65000)
Mansell appeared in our model as someone who could make the cut, and we're not sure why. He has missed almost all of 2026 with an injury, and has played only three DPWT events since his return. He missed the cut in all three. But two of them were right on the number. He played the Scottish Open last year and tied for 22nd. And the year before, he tied for 10th.

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