Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: Genesis Scottish Open

Genesis Scottish Open

The Renaissance Club
North Berwick, Scotland

The PGA Tour heads to Scotland this week for another edition of the Genesis Scottish Open.

Another John Deere Classic in the books and while we had an interesting finish, I think most of us are more interested in looking ahead at this particular spot in the schedule.

The reason being, the month of July, outside of the events overseas, have little in the way of excitement. Sure the event could turn out to be great, like the finish this past weekend, but if you have no momentum heading into the week, it's tough to gain much traction on the weekend. Chris Gotterup is one of the best stories to emerge over the past 12 months, but there's no denying that most golf fans have their sights set across the pond.

I mentioned this past week that the Scottish Open was a nice add to the schedule, and the reasons why are obvious. Instead of another event where few top-20 players are in attendance, we get the Scottish Open, which has drawn quite the crowd this year. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are in the field this week. Think about that, a decade ago, the only game in town the week prior to the Open Championship was the John Deere Classic. Yeah, the same tournament we just saw this past week and to be honest, we weren't getting the likes of Chris Gotterup a decade ago. 99% of the players in the Open Championship, otherwise known as the best players on the PGA Tour, were already overseas by the time the JD Classic teed off. The only players left behind were the ones still trying to qualify for the Open (there was a period of time where the JD winner would take a flight straight from the course overseas) and those that were qualified but chose not to participate (often older players that didn't want to deal with the travel). You can see why nearly all golf fans looked past this event. That's not the case this week though as the Scottish Open is seen as a bit of a preview for the Open Championship.

Before you go back and check the results of the Scottish Open and the Open Championship, I'll point out that it's not often an accurate preview for the Open Championship, but if nothing else, it gets golf fans back into the links mindset. Honestly, I don't care at all if the cream doesn't rise to the top this week, I just want to see the best players on the PGA Tour navigating a links-style course more than once a year.

As a bonus, this is the fifth year the Scottish Open has been on the PGA Tour schedule and the course hasn't changed in eight years, so we now have a healthy dose of course history in play.

A word of caution though, even though this is a national open, the purse is more akin to what we saw this past week at the JD vs. what we'll see next week at the Open Championship, so even though we have stacked field, it may not be the best time to deploy your big guns for OAD purposes.

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FAVORITES

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 7:30 PM ET Tuesday.

Scottie Scheffler (6-1) 

It sounds strange to say, but we haven't seen odds this high on Scheffler in quite a while…at least to start the week. It's the same story with Scheffler every week, he's going to be in contention, his odds will be low, can he win? He seems to have put the early-round struggles behind him, at least, it's not a major problem any longer and yet, he still can't win. Giving yourself a chance to win is the main goal of all these golfers and Scheffler is still doing that, but until he wins again, I don't see how you can take him at this price. His odds need to drop a bit more for me take a serious look at him.

Rory McIlroy (10-1)

McIlroy struggled at this event for many years before finally finding a groove here a few years ago. His struggles might have been attributed to the course as this event moved around a bit years ago, but after a couple rough outings at the current course, he figured it out in 2023 where he picked up the win. His two starts since then have been strong as well, with a T4 in 2024 and a runner-up this past year. McIlroy will no doubt have one eye on next week's Open Championship, but that's probably been the case every year that he's teed it up here, so I don't see any reason he can't win this week. He's certainly a better value than Scheffler.

Jon Rahm (16-1)

Let's start off by stating how strange this feels, to have Rahm in the field at a non-major event. Hopefully we'll see this more often once LIV finally gives up, but that's for another day. As for this week, I'm sure Rahm is looking forward to battling the PGA Tour pros again in a non-major setting, but how are his chances? As always with LIV players, form is a mystery, not only because it's hard to follow when and how they are playing, but it's difficult to know if success on the LIV Tour has any bearing on the PGA Tour. We'll leave form aside then and focus on his track record here, which is, unfortunately, incomplete. Rahm has only played this event twice, finishing in the top-10 once and outside the top-50 is his other start. There's not a lot to go on this week, but it looks like this isn't the week to place a win bet on Rahm.  

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THE NEXT TIER

Xander Schauffele (22-1)

Schauffele is just outside the group of favorites this week, but he should probably be in the top-3 based on his track record here. Schauffele has played this event five times, making the cut each time, finishing inside the top-15 four times and winning here in 2022. His form isn't great heading into the week, however, as he had a poor showing at the Travelers Championship his last time out, but prior to that he just missed the top-10 at the U.S. Open. He's also played well at the biggest events this season and while this isn't a major, there are still a lot of eyes on this event, so I would expect Schauffele to bring his best.  

Chris Gotterup (27-1)

I'm not usually fond of playing the defending champ, but as we've seen with Gotterup over the past 12 months, when he gets it going, there's not much that's going to stop him. Gotterup has been on fire since winning the Scottish Open this past year and it seems like he's turned the corner from flash in the pan, to a legit contender on a weekly basis. He took down the field at the JD Classic this past week, which isn't necessarily a huge feat, but it's a win on the PGA Tour nonetheless. His track record here is limited, just two starts, but as I just pointed out, one of them was a win.   

Wyndham Clark (27-1)

Is Clark's run over? The only reason it would be over is time. He looked great in his most recent start at the Travelers, but that was a couple weeks ago. Perhaps the time off, coupled with the travel overseas will shake up his momentum, but I'm not so sure that will happen. Clark has been on a tear since winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May. He followed that win with a T3 at the Memorial, a T11 at the RBC Canadian Open and a win at the U.S. Open. The only thing that will derail his run is complacency. Clark also comes into this week with one of the better track records are this event. Though he doesn't have any high-end finishes, he has yet to finish outside the top-25 in any of his four starts here.   

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LONG SHOTS

Alex Fitzpatrick (50-1)  

One of the best stories of the season gets to go back and play on familiar ground this week. Sure, Fitzpatrick hasn't had any success at this event, but let's keep in mind that he's likely a much different play now than he was the last time he teed it up here. Fitzpatrick had some success on the DP World Tour before winning at the Zurich and now that he's proved to himself that he can succeed on the PGA Tour, perhaps his level overseas gets even better. He's got a bit to overcome this week as he's yet to make a cut here in two starts, but I think the confidence boost from playing well on the PGA Tour changes everything for Fitzpatrick.  

Tom Kim (70-1)

A few things in play for Kim this week. First, his track record here is solid. In four starts he has two top-10s and two additional top-20s. Second, he's only one start removed from a 3rd-place finish at the U.S. Open. Yes, he didn't fare all that well at the JD Classic this past week, but maybe that was more about the event itself, maybe he had a hard time getting up for that event. I know, that's no excuse, Kim should be ready to play whenever/wherever as his results have been lacking for a while, but the reality is, he's been involved in some big events in his short career, which means it's probably tough to get up for the JD. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I picked Kim this past week as my OAD pick and the week after effect is in play.    

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

 Highly-Chosen Pick: Tyrrell Hatton – It's not often that a golfer makes his first appearance in this article at this point, but this is a unique event, which might call for some out of the box thinking. Similar to Rahm, we didn't expect to see Hatton outside of the majors this season, but due to the deals brokered with the DP World Tour, we get an extra event out of each of them this season. While Rahm might be too valuable to use outside of a major, the same isn't true for Hatton. You can use him this week or next, but those are your only two options. If you've got both of them, you're likely leaning towards using Hatton this week and Rahm next week.      

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Jon Rahm – If this purse were larger, Rahm might be the most popular play on the board this week, but as it is, Rahm is going to be too valuable for some OAD users to play in this spot. Others however might need to use him here, especially if they've saved some big names for the final few weeks. The other scenario is that you've saved a big gun for the Open Championship, say McIlroy or Scheffler and you're dead set on using them there. If you haven't used Rahm, then this is your final chance. It seems like a bit of a waste, using Rahm when the winner's share is just $1.6 million, but if you can't use him anywhere else, then why not here?  

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Alex Fitzpatrick – The picks from your league mates get interesting this time of year because there's more that goes into it than just who's the best pick. This is the spot where teams start plotting out the rest of the season (if they haven't already) which means you might see some bigger names go off the board this week than normal. It's with that thought that a guy like Fitzpatrick might fall under the radar this week and give you an opportunity to gain some ground. As mentioned earlier, Fitzpatrick enters this Scottish Open with more confidence than ever, which combined with his propensity to play well overseas, makes him dangerous this week. 

Buyer Beware: Robert MacIntyre – This is a scary one for sure. MacIntyre returning home to play in his country's Open Championship is not normally a target I would take aim at, but MacIntyre just hasn't had that extra gear this season and I'm not sure it shows up this week. MacIntyre had a nice stretch earlier this season where he finished T4 at The PLAYERS Championship, followed by a runner-up at the Valero Texas Open, but since then he's posted just one top-10 in nine starts. Yes, that top-10 came in his most recent start, which gives me a slight pause, but I just don't think his game is where it needs to be now to succeed this week.

My Pick: Chris Gotterup – I've wasted too many picks by using LIV players in the majors and although there's a good option to use this week in Hatton, I'm not going down that road this week. Instead, I'm going to do something I rarely do and that's take the defending champion. Yes, there are always more distractions for the defending champ, but I've seen what Gotterup can do when he's on a roll and if this past week is any indication, he's on a roll right now. Gotterup's track record here is limited, just two starts, one resulting in a missed cut, but I think it's fair to say that he figured out this track last year and if he brings any of that form from this past week, he's going to be in the mix this weekend.     

Previous Results

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FANDUEL PICKS

Upper Range: Xander Schauffele ($11,800)
Middle Range: Tyrrell Hatton ($10,500)
Lower Range: Jordan Smith ($8,200)

SURVIVOR LEAGUES

My Pick: Wyndham Clark – I was worried how Clark would respond after winning his second major this past month, but he puts those worries to rest with yet another fine outing at the Travelers Championship the week following the U.S. Open. If there was going to be a hangover, it would have happened that week. Now that he's got some space since his 2nd major win, he should be fine the rest of the way. He's returning to a course this week where he's yet to miss the cut in four tries, landing in the top-25 each time. Unless he's looking ahead to the Open Championship next week, Clark should have no problem making the cut here.     

Previous Results