Genesis Scottish Open
Course: The Renaissance Club (7,282 yards, par 70)
Purse: $9,000,000
Winner: $1,575,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The Scottish Open has long been a premier stop on the DP World Tour. Being slotted the week before the Open Championship, many of the top players in the world would make the trip over to the U.K. a week early to get acclimated to the conditions in a competitive atmosphere. With the DP World Tour and PGA Tour becoming more aligned in recent years, the decision was made to have the Scottish Open be a co-sanctioned event between the two tours starting in 2022 and be sponsored by Genesis. The result is that the Scottish Open is now one of the strongest non-major fields of the year with the best from both the PGA and DP World Tours teeing it up.
This will be the second Rolex Series event of the year, which is essentially the DP World Tour's version of a signature event. Tyrrell Hatton won the first won back in January at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Hatton's win gave him five career Rolex Series victories, tied with Jon Rahm for the most since the series began back in 2017. Neither Hatton or Rahm are allowed to play in the Scottish Open this week, however, because of their involvement with LIV Golf. The BMW PGA Championship, Abu Dhabi Championship and DP World Tour Championship are the final three Rolex Series events in 2025 to be played later this year.
Eight of the top-10 in the OWGR and in the FedExCup will be in the field at The Renaissance Club this week. Scottie Scheffler of course leads the conversation as he is hoping to get his game lined up for a run at the final major of the year next week, and knock off the third leg of the career grand slam. Rory McIlroy, who won the Scottish Open in 2023, will be in the field as well hoping to get his game back where it was earlier this season when he rattled off wins at Pebble Beach, THE PLAYERS and The Masters. McIlroy will be the pseudo-host at the Open Championship next week at Royal Portrush in his home country of Northern Ireland. World No. 3 Xander Schauffele will be defending the Claret Jug at Portrush and is also a former winner of the Scottish Open (2022).
A year ago one of the coolest stories in golf was Robert MacIntyre winning his national open. He came close in 2023 losing out to McIlroy by just one shot, but after a win earlier in the season in Canada, last year MacIntyre stepped up down the stretch and holed a putt to win the Scottish Open on the 72nd hole by one shot over Adam Scott. MacIntyre was just the second Scot to ever win this event joining Colin Montgomerie who did it in 1999.
This will be the seventh straight year that The Renaissance Club has hosted the Scottish Open. While there are some links aspects, it is a much newer venue designed by Tom Doak and doesn't really have the same feel as a lot of the other great Scottish courses in the area. The American style of play of bomb and gauge with a lot of loft can often still get the job done here. Things will be turned up quite a bit for Royal Portrush next week and the way players attack that course will be fairly different. The biggest things the top American players gain from playing the Scottish Open is how their irons react off the hard fescue fairways. It's much harder to strike iron shots pure here than on your standard PGA Tour venue with a much more forgiving fairway cut.
Most weeks on the PGA Tour we want to see clear weather, but there's something about players having to battle the elements in the U.K. that make for an exciting watch. Unfortunately, it looks like the weather is going to be beautiful for the four tournament rounds in North Berwick, Scotland. There is a minimal risk of rain and we are expected to see plenty of sunshine. Daytime highs will reach near 70 degrees throughout the tournament and sustained winds will be in the 10-15 mph range, with higher gusts possible at times. The hope is that by the weekend the course can really dry out and we see a lot of rollout on all shots. That could create a lot of strategy off the tee and make some of the holes play a little more interesting. Robert MacIntyre's 18-under (262) total last year was the lowest since the Renaissance Club moved to a par 70 in 2022. If the wind gusts get up and the course plays really firm this week, we might be looking more in the 12-to-15-under range for a winning number.
Recent Champions
2024 - Robert MacIntyre (-18)
2023 - Rory McIlroy (-15)
2022 - Xander Schauffele (-7)
2021 - Min Woo Lee (-18)
2020 - Aaron Rai (-11)
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger (-22)
2018 - Brandon Stone (-20)
2017 - Rafa Cabrera-Bello (-13)
2016 - Alex Noren (-14)
2015 - Rickie Fowler (-12)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- 3-Putt Avoidance/ Par 3 Scoring
Champion's Profile
The Renaissance Club is one of the hardest courses on the PGA Tour to find the fairway already, but just add in the lack of moisture expected to fall and it should only amplify that. The fescue rough is long, but generally players are able to have decent access to the back of the ball because its drier and not overly thick. You are just going to have to accept that some good drivers are going to get some bad bounces and find their way into the rough. Really the only thing players are fighting to avoid is the fairway bunkers, which are pretty steep and make reaching the green a low percentage move. Otherwise, we'll see players try to take advantage of the firm fairways on the downwind holes with driver.
The nice part about links style courses is that we see many different clubs into greens. Yes the downwind holes are going to see a lot of wedges, but the into the wind holes will require players to take out some of their longest irons to be able to reach the putting surface. Fortunately, most of the greens are able to be accessed in the front and run up a longer shot coming in from a lower loft. That said, the players who are in contention at the Renaissance Club have generally been pretty solid approach players all the way through the bag. Trajectory control will the shorter irons is also a big key to avoid over spinning it.
The firmer conditions and hard fescue grass around the greens can make this a tricky place to scramble from. The players who excel from a SG: Around-the-Green perspective should be able to shine because really solid contact is going to have to be made to get the ball close to the hole. There will be plenty of chances to use putter off the greens as well, but depending on where the ball is in relation to some of the pot bunkers and slopes on the greens, it might not always be possible. The greens themselves will be slower than a lot of PGA Tour players are use to. It's always one of the biggest adjustments players have to make when they come over for the Scottish Open and Open Championship. The wind will also influence some of the putts more than usual because there isn't a lot of trees on the course. Players that are great lag-putters and rank highly in 3-putt avoidance should be at an advantage this week, especially considering the difficulties of putting from 4-8 feet on this course.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Tommy Fleetwood ($11,900)
I always thought some of the primarily PGA Tour players who grew up in the U.K. often are able to adjust to the playing surfaces and conditions faster than others. Enter Fleetwood who has a great record at The Renaissance Club with a trio of top-6 finishes. He is coming off a heartbreaking loss at the Travelers a few weeks ago, but all parts of his game are so strong right now and he should be eager to get that sour taste out of his mouth. Fleetwood is third this season in SG: Total.
Robert MacIntyre ($11,400)
While many of the top players this week will have their eyes on the Open Championship, one who will not is MacIntyre. The Scot is looking to make it three straight top-2 finishes in his national open, and hopefully add another trophy to the collection. MacIntyre nearly won another national open last month at Oakmont before a heroic finish by J.J. Spaun. MacIntyre has been tearing it up on the greens of late and ranks top-30 this season in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach and GIR percentage.
Matt Fitzpatrick ($11,300)
Fitzpatrick has been quiet for much of 2025, but it appears he is starting to get back on track with two top-10s and four top-25s in his last six starts. The Englishman has also gained strokes on approach in seven of his last eight starts and around the greens in 9-of-11. Fitzpatrick has a strong history at The Renaissance Club with a trio of top-15 finishes, including a T2 in 2021. He has always been very solid on these greens as well.
The Middle Tier
Ryan Fox ($10,600)
Fox is in the middle of a heater that includes two wins and five top-20s in his last six starts. He's got plenty of experience playing in Europe as a long-time DP World Tour member. Fox has always been known as a bomber, but his control with the irons and the putting has been his biggest strength of late, ranking inside the top-25 in both SG: Approach and SG: Putting on the season now. Fox has made his last four cuts at The Renaissance Club, including a T12 in 2023.
Nick Taylor ($9,700)
Taylor has been primarily a boom-or-bust player throughout his career, but he has been one of the most consistent players on Tour over the last few months with six top-25s in his last seven starts. The Canadian has gained strokes on approach in all of those events and is now up to 11th in SG: Approach and 17th in GIR percentage on the season. Taylor is also top-60 on Tour in scrambling and SG: Putting. He's 3-for-3 at the Scottish Open with a T19 in 2023.
Kevin Yu ($9,000)
Yu is coming off his third straight top-25 finish, bringing his total to eight for the season. His ball striking remains outstanding at sixth in SG: Off-the-Tee, sixth in total driving, 29th in SG: Approach and 12th in GIR percentage for the season, but he's also now starting to putt well gaining strokes on the greens in five of his last six starts. Yu is 11th in birdie average and 12th in par-3 scoring, which should help him given that there are five par-3s at this course.
The Long Shots
Haotong Li ($8,800)
Li has cooled off a bit in his last three starts, but prior to that he reeled off four top-10s in a five-start stretch. He also won earlier this year at the Qatar Masters. Li is one of the best ball strikers the DP World Tour has to offer ranking 18th in SG: Off-the-Tee, first in SG: Approach and eighth in GIR percentage. He's also a solid 53rd in SG: Putting and 25th in putts per GIR. Li owns a pair of top-25 finishes in his career at The Renaissance Club.
Kristoffer Reitan ($8,100)
Reitan has been probably the hottest player on the DP World Tour over the last few months. In his last seven starts he owns a win, two runner-ups, a T4 and a T13. A lot of that success is due to his red-hot putter during that stretch, as he is at nearly a full stroke gained per round. Reitan is also a very strong driver at 15th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 21st in driving distance on the DP World Tour this season.
Francesco Laporta ($7,800)
Laporta comes into this Rolex Series event on the heels of three straight top-10s. The Italian checks a lot of boxes we are looking for. He ranks 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 15th in SG: Approach and eighth in scrambling on the DP World Tour this season. Laporta is also fourth in par-3 scoring and ninth in par-4 scoring. The 34-year-old has six top-10s and 12 top-25s over his last 21 starts and is a reliable option to round out lineups this week.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The biggest difference for most weekly PGA DFS users on FanDuel this week will be the fact that roughly half the field is comprised of primarily DP World Tour players. Unless you pay close attention to the DPWT, there's a good chance you might just skip past some of those unfamiliar names. That would be a mistake, as there are a number of really strong players who are quite honestly underpriced compared to some middling PGA Tour guys that lack experience on links courses. I highlighted a few of them above, but others to consider at the tail end of lineups would be Marco Penge ($8,400), Martin Couvra ($7,900) and Marcel Schneider ($7,600).
Another discussion that always pops up on this side of the pond is who gets the right end of the draw. The weather in Scotland can be pretty unpredictable, but models indicate there could be a slight advantage to the late-early wave, as the wind is projected to steady decrease in strength on Thursday and then rise a bit in the afternoon on Friday. By that logic it would hurt some of your top guys like Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Ludvig Aberg with the early-late draw, and could potentially help the late-early crew like Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood. If you're entering multiple lineups, having one that's all players in the late-early wave might not be a bad idea.
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