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
2024 champion: Robert MacIntyre
Tournament Preview
A lot of top PGA Tour players like to take the week off before a major. Perfectly understandable. But the Scottish Open provides them two advantages 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.
Which brings us to Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 skipped last year's Scottish, after playing in the first two editions since it became a joint PGA Tour/DP World Tour event. As a result, he tumbled all the way into a tie for seventh at the Open Championship the following week (sarcasm).
But having Scheffler back is a huge boost for the tournament, joining 2023 winner Rory McIlroy and eight of the top-10 in the world rankings. Interestingly, the two top-10 players skipping the event also skipped it last year: Russell Henley and Keegan Bradley. Also absent for the second straight year, more surprisingly, is Shane Lowry, who next week returns to the scene of his crowning golf achievement, Royal Portrush, where he won the 2019 Open. Other names of note taking off this week include Jordan Spieth, Ben Griffin, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day and Cameron Young.
Robert MacIntyre is back to defend his title, after last year's riveting celebration of a native son winning on Scottish soil. Xander Schauffele, who won it in 2023, will prep to defend his title as Champion Golfer of the Year won last year at Royal Troon.
Our defending Champion! 💪🏴#GenesisScottishOpen #RolexSeries #FedExCup pic.twitter.com/DemOp6G6sC
— Genesis Scottish Open (@ScottishOpen) July 2, 2025
It was almost four 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 Golf, and the partnership has since expanded in other ways. For instance, 10 DP World Tour players earn PGA Tour cards each season. Additionally, more than 40 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 five sponsor invites. Duh, that adds up to 158. But two of the sponsor invites, in this case Luke Clanton and David Ford, count against the PGA Tour's 75 entrants. The other three sponsor picks are Alex Noren, Brandt Snedeker and Richie Ramsay. Among the Euro-centric players in the top 100 of the OWGR, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Smith, Kristoffer Reitan and Shaun Norris are entered and will also be at Royal Troon next week. There are still three spots available this week at the Scottish for golfers to get into the Open Championship.
PGA Tour pros had been playing the Scottish Open with more regularity in recent years even before the alliance, to get acclimated for the Open Championship, course-wise and time-zone-wise. Former winners here include Phil Mickelson (2013) and Rickie Fowler (2015). Neither golfer, however, won at The Renaissance Club (pronounced Reh-NAY-sahnse). This will be the seventh year that one of the biggest events on the European golf calendar will be played at this club that 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, 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.
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. In far tougher, cooler conditions a year later, Aaron Rai won at 11-under. Four years ago, Min Woo Lee won at 18-under in a three-way playoff with Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry. Three years ago, Schauffele's winning score was a mere 7-under in windy conditions. McIlroy won at 15-under two years ago and last year, MacIntyre's winning total was back up to 18-under.
There are five par-3s and three par-5s on the par-70 track. The hardest holes last year were all long par-4s: in order, they were the 505-yard 7th, the 483-yard 18th and the 488-yard 15th.
As for the weather, conditions are forecast to be rather benign, at least by Scotland standards. The wind will be blow about 10-15 mph through the week. Otherwise, high temperatures will hover close to 70 and there is no significant rain expected
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. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and Hero Dubai Desert Classic were played in January, the BMW PGA Championship will be in September and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai will be played right before Thanksgiving.
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 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 (in 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
2024 - Robert MacIntyre (The Renaissance Club)
2023 - Rory McIlroy (The Renaissance Club)
2022 - Xander Schauffele (The Renaissance Club)
2021 - Min Woo Lee (The Renaissance Club)
2020 - Aaron Rai (The Renaissance Club)
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger (The Renaissance Club)
2018 - Brandon Stone
2017 - Rafa Cabrera-Bello
2016 - Alex Noren
2015 - Rickie Fowler
Champion's Profile
We have six years of data to go by but only the past three years with a stronger field with PGA Tour players. As we noted above, much will be dependent upon the weather. In four of the six years, there were calmer conditions (2019, '21, '23, '24) and two where weather played a larger role (2020, 2022). Windier conditions make this more of a ball-strikers course. The wind doesn't seem like it will be too bad, at least from the early-week forecast (a lot can change fast!).
Last year, MacIntyre played brilliantly: ninth in SG: Off-the-Tee, sixth in Approach, 35th in Around and 16th in Putting. He won by one shot over Adam Scott, whose numbers ended up like this: fifth in Off-the-Tee, 26th in Approach, 47th in Around and ninth in Putting. Neither golfer was among the driving distance leaders; MacIntyre ranked 26th to Scott's 31st.
Two years ago, McIlroy ranked only 34th in SG: Putting, but he sank birdie putts of 4 1/2 feet on 17 and 11 feet on 18 to dash MacIntyre's -- and a country's -- hopes. McIlroy ranked first in driving distance and SG: Off-the-Tee (38th in accuracy), seventh in Approach and 27th in Around-the-Green. MacIntyre was far more balanced, including seventh in SG: Putting.
The over/under on the winning score could go a long way in telling us what the books think the weather will be. On golfodds.com it's 263.5, which is 20.5 under par. They don't think the weather will be severe.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Scottie Scheffler - $13,100 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +360)
Scheffler played this tournament twice before, missing the cut in 2022 when the weather was a big factor and tying for third in 2023 when there were calmer conditions. The latter is what's forecast for this week. Regardless, Scheffler is a far different golfer from three years ago and even two years ago. His game is adaptable to any course in any conditions.
Rory McIlroy - $11,700 (+750)
McIlroy has proven adept at playing well here in good weather the past two years. He won in 2023, ripping the heart out of MacIntyre, before tying for fourth last year. With a tie for 19th at the U.S. Open and especially a tie for sixth at the Travelers, McIlroy showed that whatever post-Masters funk he was in, he's now out of.
$9,000-$9,900
Tommy Fleetwood - $9,900 (+2200)
Would it surprise anyone if Fleetwood won in one of the two next weeks? (And then Golf Twitter would say that while he did win a PGA Tour event, it was not in the United States so it doesn't really count. But it would.) Fleetwood showed he can compete at Renaissance no matter the conditions, tying for fourth in 2022 and for sixth in 2023. We know his game is trending upward by his play at the Travelers for 71 holes. In Scotland, he would face a completely opposite atmosphere from the fans.
Robert MacIntyre - $9,100 (+3000)
MacIntyre will be the crowd favorite, even more than the likes of McIlroy and Fleetwood. He seems to feed off that. Besides, he's been playing great of late, with his runner-up a the U.S. Open part of a stretch in which he compiled four top-20s in his past five starts.
Sam Burns - $9,000 (+4000)
Burns has a couple of top-20s here, once before it became a PGA Tour event in 2021 and again two years later. If this were a true links course, perhaps we wouldn't go here. But it is hybrid enough, and Burns is playing well enough -- and has played well here before -- to merit consideration.
$8,000-$8,900
Matt Fitzpatrick - $8,800 (+4000)
Fitzpatrick has fallen into the 70s OWGR -- he actually was in the 80s a couple of months back. But he has definitely turned a corner in his game, beginning with a top-10 at the PGA Championship in May. That's part of a streak of eight straight made cuts he carries into this week, also including two other top-25s and another top-10. Fitzpatrick shared runner-up here in 2021, then tied for sixth the year PGA Tour players jumped on board. He ranks seventh in our model, which comprises all the key stats.
Ryan Fox - $8,500 (+6500)
Fox is red-hot on the PGA Tour but also has played a DP World Tour schedule for years. He's made the cut here the past three years at The Renaissance Club, including a tie for 12th two years ago. He's a far more accomplished golfer now. Fox has won twice on the PGA Tour in the past two months, then after winning the Canadian Open notched top-20s at the U.S. Open and Travelers.
Harry Hall - $8,400 (+6000)
At first glance, seeing Hall's name in the 8,000s caused a double-take. But we quickly realized that 1) He's playing quite well now and 2) He's from England. He's played here only once, a made cut two years ago. On the PGA Tour, Hall hasn't missed a cut since March, a span of 11 starts, with six straight top-25s coming in.
$7,000-$7,900
Max Greyserman - $7,800 (+8000)
Greyserman has rather quietly moved up to No. 32 in the world rankings. That's where he ended up following a playoff loss in the Rocket Classic last time out. He has not missed a cut since April. Greyserman is ranked top-25 on Tour in driving distance and putting. He made his Scottish Open debut a year ago and tied for 21st.
Haotong Li - $7,100 (+12000)
Li is having an excellent season on the DP World Tour. He's up to No. 107 OWGR after beginning the year outside the top 300. Not only hasn't he missed a cut in 14 starts, he has a win in Qatar, a runner-up in Turkey and two ties for fourth. He hasn't missed a cut since September. Li has played this tournament three years running, making the cut twice with a best of T21 a year ago.
Matthew Jordan - $7,000 (+17000)
The Englishman has played this tournament four years in a row without missing a cut. He tied for 26th last year. Jordan has had his ups and downs on the DP World Tour this season, but does have three top-10s and five top-25s. Hen advanced through qualifying to play in the U.S. Open last month but missed the cut.
$6,000-$6,900
Kristoffer Reitan - $6,900 (+17000)
The 27-year-old Norwegian is playing the best golf of his career and just moved inside the top 100 of the OWGR for the first time. He began the year ranked 425th. Reitan won the Soudal Open in May, has two runners-up and last week tied for fourth at the BMW International. Having mostly played on lesser tours until recently, this will be his first start at The Renaissance Club.
Martin Couvra - $6,900 (+25000)
Watch out for this young Frenchman. He's only 22, yet has already won his first DP World Tour event, the Turkish Open in May. And then he was runner-up in the Italian Open a couple of weeks back. He's now 118th OWGR. Couvra is ranked fifth on Tour in SG: Approach. This will be his Scottish Open debut.
Martin Couvra is having a debut Tour season to remember 😍 pic.twitter.com/5VjDUU0QU6
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 30, 2025
Frederic LaCroix - $6,400 (+50000)
Lacroix has proved proficient at making cuts this season -- 7 of 11 -- without many high finishes. That was until last week, when he tied for seventh at the BMW International. He has four other top-25s this season. The 30-year-old Frenchman advanced through qualifying to play in the U.S. Open, but he missed the cut. This will be his first Scottish Open.
Are you on board with Len's selections this week? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
