Blog #157 Scottish Open

Blog #157 Scottish Open

Renaissance Club Par 70

Purse $9M same as last year

July 11-14 2024

HISTORY

The Renaissance Club opened in 2007, and by UK standards it is a very young course.

St Andrews Old Course opened in 1895.  Renaissance is located between 2 famous courses,

Muirfield and Berwick who together have hosted 26 OPEN Championships.  

This is a PGA/DP World tour event so no LIV players will participate.

Rory McElroy won last year and Robert MacIntyre placed 2nd.  Xander Schauffele won in 2022.

My Prediction Scottie Scheffler was originally going to play but because of his poor performance at the US Open (#41) he decided to skip this one.  If he played I would have picked him, but since he is not I am picking Xander Schauffele.

If not Schauffele, I think it will be Morikawa or Aberg or someone comes out of nowhere. I can’t see any of the bottom 5 in the top 10 or any mentioned longshots winning.

Favorites

1 Rory McElroy 6.5/1 I think his mind is on THE OPEN and will only tune up his game.

2 Xander Schauffele 7.5/1 I think if his game is on as it was at the PGA, he wins.

3 Collin Morikawa 12/1 He won THE OPEN in 2021, if his putting improves he is a good bet.

4 Ludvig Aberg 14/1 Probably the best young golfer on tour and he will win soon.  Maybe now.

5 Viktor Hovland 20/1 His game has improved in the last month but he is not there yet.

6 Tommy Fleetwood 20/1 Finished 4th in 2022 and was 3rd after 3 RDS last year but faded.

7 Tom Kim 25/1 He is rested and has finished 6th last year.

8 Min Woo Lee 25/1 Played really well at Rocket especially final RD, he could be a sleeper.

9 Hideki Matsuyama 28/1 He usually shoots 1 great RD but I think he still has injury issues.

10 Matt Fitzpatrick 35/1 His game is still to inconsistent. 

Longshots 

SJ Im 40/1 He keeps knocking on the door but I don’t think he can make the top 10.   

Robert MacIntyer 40/1 He could have won last year but Rory birdies the last 2 holes to win.

Justin Thomas 35/1 He has shown signs of winning again but not yet.

Brian Harman 50/1 Won the Open by by 6 strokes last year and has played ok this year.

Will Zalatoris 80/1 Had some back issues and withdrew from Rocket Mortgage but may be ok.

Denny McCarthy 80/1 Still best putter on tour so you can’t count him out.

Ricky Fowler 110/1 He won this tournament in 2018 and could surprise. 

Seamus Powers 120/1 No chance but since Sean Lowry is not playing I had to pick 1 Irishman.

Eric Cole 150/1 He played so well last week that he may bo worth a small bet at there odds.