The PGA Tour heads overseas this week for two Open tournaments. The first is the Genesis Scottish Open at Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The Genesis Scottish Open will have the second-best field for a non-major tournament so far this year, only behind the PGA Championship. 32 of the top 50 golfers in the World Golf Rankings will be teeing it up in Scotland this week. We have plenty of good golfers to choose from, so this should be a good appetizer for the Open Championship next week.
* Do not forget to set your lineups Wednesday night. Lineups lock at midnight Wednesday.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
The Genesis Scottish Open will be played at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick. The course is a par-70 and plays 7,282 yards in length. The Renaissance Club has a lot of rolling hills and the rough is expected to be deep. Most of the greens are elevated and they play as a traditional bump and run links style course. This course is like a Superspeedway in NASCAR. It takes drivers a while to figure out how to manipulate the draft on the Superspeedways and it takes the golfers a while to figure out how to play links style golf. Creativity is the name of the game at the Renaissance Club this week.
Click here to see the course: Renaissance Club
GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN KEY STATS
– Stroke Gained Off the Tee
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Scrambling
– Strokes Gained Putting
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFERS
CORE GOLFERS FOR GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN
GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN STRATEGY
The last two winners of the Scottish Open were Robert MacIntyre and Rory McIlroy. These two golfers grew up playing links-style golf in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Golfers who are familiar with this type of golf will have the advantage this week. I will have some shares of the Europeans this week, because link-style golf is more common on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
This course is affected by the weather more than most courses on the PGA Tour (maybe not Pebble Beach). When the winds blow; the winning score is no better than 10 under par. When the winds are calm, the bombers take over and the winning score is 20 under par or better.The winds are forecasted to be 10-15 MPH Thursday morning and then dying down for Thursday afternoon and Friday. I do not think it will affect the bombers off-the-tee.
The Genesis Scottish Open is sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. There are a few golfers I will be using from the DP World Tour, but I will be sticking to the PGA Tour golfers for most of my lineups. Most of the PGA Tour players who are in the field are also in the field for the Open Championship. That means they do not have the pressure to perform well this week. That is not the case for many of the DP World Tour golfers. They are playing for a spot in the Open Championship next week, so the pressure is on them.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
COLLIN MORIKAWA ($9,600): I wanted to start the Cash Lineup with Rory McIlroy or Tommy Fleetwood, but I do not trust the golfers priced under $7,500 for Cash Contests this week, so I will use Morikawa. We get a big discount with Morikawa based on his form this year. He just finished 8th in his last tournament (Rocket Classic), so maybe he has found something. Morikawa will have Billy Foster on the bag this week. Foster is one of the best caddies in the game and one of the best on link-style courses. Maybe this will light a spark into Morikawa this week.
ROBERT MACINTYRE ($9,100): I like having “horses for courses” in my Cash Contest lineup. Macintyre checks that box. He finished 2nd in the Genesis Scottish Open in 2023 and then he won the tournament in 2024. He form is also outstanding. Macintyre just finished 2nd in the U.S. Open. Macintyre ranks No. 10 in the Key Stats this week. He is a good pick for Cash and Tournament Contests this week.
HARRY HALL ($8,400): Hall is in great form. He has finished 6 consecutive tournaments in the top-25. Hall is from England so he is familiar with links-style golf. Hall ranks No. 20 in SG Tee-to-Green, N0. 22 in SG Approach, No. 4 in SG Putting, No. 2 in SG Short Game and No. 3 overall in the Key Stats. His short game will give Hall a good chance to win Sunday.
MAX GREYSERMAN ($7,800): I had to decide if I wanted to use Thomas Detry or Max Greyserman in this spot. Detry has more experience on links-style courses, but Greyserman has the better form. I decided to take a chance with the American over the Belgian. Greyserman has made 9 cuts in a row on the PGA Tour. He finished 21st in his first trip to Scotland last year and Greyserman ranks No. 12 in the Key Stats. Greyserman has a good chance for a top-10 finish in Scotland.
NICK TAYLOR ($7,600): Taylor wasn’t on my radar before I started my research for the Genesis Scottish Open, but he checks all of the boxes this week. Taylor has made the cut in 7 of his last 8 tournaments (Only missed the cut in the PGA Championship). He has also made the cut in all three trips to Scotland. Taylor ranks No. 4 in the Key Stats this week. I will take a chance with this creative Canadian this week.
BRIAN HARMAN ($7,500): Having Harman as the anchor of the Cash Contest lineup just seems unfair this week. Harman has played well on links-style courses. He won the Open Championship in 2023 and he finished 12th and 21st in his last two trips to the Genesis Scottish Open. Harman won the Texas Open, finished 3rd in the RBC Heritage and 8th in his last tournament (Travelers Championship). Harman ranks No. 7 in SG Putting and No. 17 in SG Short Game. He is a wizard around the greens and that will make Harman a threat for a spot near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST
TOMMY FLEETWOOD ($9,900): Could this be the week when Fleetwood wins a PGA Tour trophy? He nearly won his last event when he finished 2nd at the Travelers Championship. It was the 4th finish in the top-five for Fleetwood this year. Now he gets to tee it up at his best course. Fleetwood finished 2nd, 26th, 4th, 6th and 34th in his 5 trips to the Genesis Scottish Open. He ranks No. 9 in the Key Stats, so I will take a chance with Fleetwood in Scotland.
SAM BURNS ($9,100): I always like to check out the Fantasy Golf podcasts and do a quick Google search to see who everyone in the industry is on this week. I have not heard many people taking about Burns and that could be a mistake. Burns is in some of the best form in his career. He has finished 7 of his last 8 tournaments in the top-20. He has also finished 2 of his 3 tournaments at this course in the top-20. I will take a chance with a lower-owned Burns this week.
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK ($8,800): The only reason why Fitzpatrick is priced under $9K is because his form has not been great this year. He is starting to heat up though. Fitzpatrick finished 8th (Rocket Classic) and 17th (Travelers Championship) in his last two tournaments. He is known as one of the best golfers on the PGA Tour on links-style courses. Fitzpatrick finished 2nd in the Genesis Scottish Open in 2021 and 6th in 2022. I like his chances for a top-10 finish Sunday.
THOMAS DETRY ($7,800): I did not play Detry in my Cash Contest lineup, so I will take a chance with the Belgium Bomber in my Tournament Contest lineup. Detry has made 6 of his last 7 cuts on the PGA Tour (His only missed cut was at the PGA Championship). He has also made the cut in all 6 of his trips to the Genesis Scottish Open. That includes a 2nd-place finish in 2021 and a 10th-place finish in 2022. I like playing Detry in Europe.
JORDAN L. SMITH ($7,300): Smith has a lot to play for this week. He is on the boarder of making the European Ryder Cup team. He needs a good finish this week and next week at the Open Championship to earn a spot on the team. Smith just finished 2nd in the BMW International Open and he has 4 finishes in the top-10 in his last 7 starts. I am not playing a lot of DP World Tour golfers this week, but I trust Smith in Tournament Contests in Scotland.
VICTOR PEREZ ($7,200): Perez just missed the cut in the John Deere Classic and that is a good thing. Perez was able to make an early trip to Scotland to prepare for the Genesis Scottish Open. Perez has played this tournament 6 times. He made the cut in 5 of them and that includes a top-10 finish last year. I will take a chance with the Frenchman in my lineup this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contests: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the sixth tournament in Segment 3. This is the toughest Segment to navigate. We have two majors (U.S. Open and the Open Championship), one Signature Event (Travelers Championship) and the PGA Playoffs (St. Jude, BMW Championship and Tour Championship). That is a lot of stacked tournaments requiring our top golfers, so make your picks wisely this week.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: HARRY HALL (SCOTTISH OPEN)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Chris Gotterup (21st), Cameron Young (46TH), Ben Griffin (14TH), Joaquin Niemann (MC), Taylor Pendrith (27th), Xander Schauffele (25th), Harris English (53rd), Bryon DeChambeau (2ND ), Justin Thomas (2nd), Byeong-Hun An (60th), Daniel Berger (3rd), Jon Rahm (14TH), Keegan Bradley (47TH), Aaron Rai (MC), Tommy Fleetwood (16TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Rory McIlroy (15th), Shane Lowry (11TH), Akshay Bhatia (9TH), Collin Morikawa (17th), Tom Kim (44th), Patrick Cantlay (33rd), Jason Day (32nd), Sungjae Im (MC), Corey Conners (MC)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: ROBERT MACINTYRE (SCOTTISH OPEN)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Denny McCarthy (11TH), Keegan Bradley (41ST), Xander Schauffele (61ST), Bryson DeChambeau (MC), Sam Burns (2nd), Sepp Straka (3rd), Aaron Rai (MC), Rory McIlroy (47TH), Justin Thomas (2nd), Sungjae Im (33rd), Thomas Detry (32ND), Patrick Cantlay (13th), Jon Rahm 14TH), Akshay Bhatia (MC), J.J. Spaun (MC), Corey Conners (8TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Ludvig Aberg (22nd), Daniel Berger (25TH), Patrick Rodgers (25TH), Taylor Pendrith (50th), Nick Taylor (25th), Collin Morikawa (17th), Jason Day (32nd), Russell Henley (10th), (Sungjae Im (3rd), Ben Griffin (15th), Nico Echavarria (29TH), Harris English (14TH), Beau Hossler (56TH), Tom Kim (MC), Keith Mitchell (MC)
BEST BETS FOR THE GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN
COLLIN MORIKAWA +2500
ROBERT MACINTYRE+3000
SAM BURNS +4000
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK +4500
HARRY HALL +6500
BRIAN HARMAN +9000
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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