With the 152nd Open Championship on the horizon, many of the PGA Tour's biggest stars have already voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean in preparation for the year's final major. As a result, the field for this week's 2024 Genesis Scottish Open is jampacked with talent, as 18 of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up at The Renassaince Club. The Genesis Scottish Open is also a co-sanctioned event for the third consecutive year, allowing players from both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to be in the field.
Among the group of stars playing in North Berwick this week, the one player everyone is most fascinated to see is defending champion Rory McIlroy, who hasn't tee'd it up since missing two short putts in the final three holes to cost him the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. McIlroy took a three-week hiatus after the devastating defeat but returns to The Renaissance Club to defend his title and get back into the zone ahead of The Open.
After bouncing around at several sites over the years, the Genesis Scottish Open settled on The Renaissance Club in 2019 and has stuck here ever since. Designed by well-renowned modern-day architect Tom Doak, the links-style course presents a unique challenge compared to most venues on the PGA Tour in America. With natural elements, unpredictable terrain, devilish pot bunkers, erratic fescue, drastic slopes and undulation, and a whipping seaside breeze, The Renaissance Club provides a perfect tune-up ahead of Royal Troon (also located in Scotland) next week.
THE ODDS
Rory McIlroy (+650), Xander Schauffele (+850), Collin Morikawa (+1400), Viktor Hovland (+1600), Tommy Fleetwood (+1600), and Ludvig Aberg (+1600) enter the week as the betting favorites, according to BetRivers Sportsbook.
Tom Kim (+2500), Hideki Matsuyama (+2800), Aaron Rai (+3300), Min Woo Lee (+3300), Matthew Fitzpatrick (+3300), Justin Thomas (+4000), Jordan Spieth (+4500), Sahith Theegala (+4500), Brian Harman (+4500), Adam Scott (+4500), and Corey Conners (+4500) are the rest of the players listed below 50/1 odds.
Max Homa (+5000), Sepp Straka (+5000), Sungjae Im (+5000), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+5000), Robert MacIntyre (+5500), Wyndham Clark (+5500), Byeong Hun An (+6600), and Davis Thompson (+6600) fill up the middle tier of the betting board.
Denny McCarthy (+8000), Si Woo Kim (+8000), Ryan Fox (+8000), Bernd Wiesberger (+8000), Keith Mitchell (+8000), Alexander Noren (+8000), Thomas Detry (+8000), Billy Horschel (+8000), Jordan Smith (+9000), Rasmus Hojgaard (+9000), Ewen Ferguson (+9000), Will Zalatoris (+9000), Matthieu Pavon (+9000), and Ben Griffin (+9000) are the rest of the players under 100/1.
For the complete tournament odds board, click here .
*Odds subject to change*
PAST WINNERS
2023: Rory McIlroy (-15)
2022: Xander Schauffele (-7)
2021: Min Woo Lee (-18)*
2020: Aaron Rai (-11)*
2019: Bernd Wiesberger (-22)*
*DP World Tour event
KEY STATS
SG: Approach
SG: Around The Green
SG: Tee To Green
Scrambling
Driving Distance
Opportunities Gained
SG: Putting (Slow)
Proximity 175-200/200-225 Yards
Par-5s: 550-600 Yards
Par-4s: 450-500 Yards
THE COURSE
The Renaissance Club (par-70) stretches 7,237 yards and features fescue green complexes, three-to-five-inch rough, 83 sand bunkers, and strategically-placed pine forest trees. Located less than 30 miles away from iconic Scottish links courses North Berwick and Muirfield, Doak's modern design isn't quite held in the same breath but does offer a splendid and welcoming change of pace leading up to The Open Championship.
While The Renaissance Club may not necessarily present the "truest" form of links golf, 'Mother Nature' fully dictates the tournament's difficulty, as we see at many of the top courses in Europe. During the 2023 tournament edition, the coastal winds gusted upwards of 20 mph throughout the weekend, leading to a winning score of 7-under. However, Min Woo Lee (2021) and Bernd Wiesberger (2019) were each able to reach 18-under and rack up birdies en route to victory thanks to benign course conditions. There is a mixed bag of possible outcomes on a course like this, which has me targeting players with a complete skillset with past experiences on these types of setups in Europe. Just be mindful of the wind and weather forecast for the week before things get underway on Thursday.
Among the ten par-4s, seven are longer than 445 yards. Hole Nos. 4 (422 yards) and 5 (338 yards) are the shortest and most favorable scoring par-4s on the course. Three of the four par-4s on the back nine reach at least 475 yards... so buckle up down the stretch. Most approach shots on these holes will come from over 150 yards.
While two of the five par-3s (Nos. 6 and 14) are shorter than 165 yards, the other three are played over 200 yards. The 204-yard 12th hole and 203-yard 17th hole could provide pivotal scoring swings during the back nine on Sunday. Again, long-iron shots are required on over half of the par-3s.
Two of the three par-5s (Nos. 3 and 10) will push the 600-yard plateau, and the shortest of the bunch is still 576 yards. The par-5s at The Renaissance Club were ranked the eighth-most difficult on the PGA Tour's schedule in 2023. The average distance of the par-5s is 589 yards.
Considering The Renaissance Club has only hosted the Genesis Scottish Open since 2019, it's tricky to parse through all the data and generate key statistics with such a small sample size. It also doesn't help that this was strictly a DP World Tour event until 2022. With that being said, the course does appear to favor bombers off the tee box, as missing the fairway isn't always costly. Looking at recent leaderboards, Schauffele, Kurt Kitayama, Rasmus Hojgaard, Thomas Detry, and Dean Burmester all finished inside the top 10 and ranked above field average in driving distance in 2023. McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Scottie Scheffler, and Byeong Hun An, the top-four finishers last year, are all known for their power from off the tee.
It's also worth noting that the fescue green complexes here are often much slower than the standard putting surfaces PGA Tour players see in the United States. In the past, these slower surfaces have allowed statistically poor putters to perform better than usual. Not to say that's what will happen this week, but it's something to be mindful of. Also, with the greens ranking as the eighth-largest among all courses on the 2024 schedule, lag-putting and three-putt avoidance are two additional measures to look at this week.
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