Out of the Rough: Genesis Scottish Open (2026)

With the naming of the Champion Golfer of the Year just a week away, the PGA Tour heads to the birthplace of golf for this week’s Genesis Scottish Open.

Since 2022, the DP World Tour and PGA Tour have co-sanctioned this event, being the first event to co-exist between the two tours.

The partnership now sees 75 golfers from each the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour battling it out for supremacy in the birthplace of golf.

It annually serves as the final tuneup for The Open Championship, being played a week before and allowing those of the PGA Tour to get a taste of links golf before the final Major of the season.

Each of the previous four editions have been held at The Renaissance Club as will be the case this week.

Although this event has served as a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour since 2023, it has been a part of the DP World Tour’s schedule since the tour’s inception in 1972. It has been held at The Renaissance Club since 2019.

The Field

With a chance to get the ideal tune-up for next week’s The Open Championship, most of the World’s best will be teeing it up this week.

That includes World No. 1 Scottie Scheffeler who routinely doesn’t play the week prior to a major event.

Rory McIlroy, World No. 2 and the 2023 winner of this event, will also be playing this week in Scotland.

One of the larger storylines this week is the inclusion of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. Both members of the LIV Golf Tour playing a PGA Tour hosted event via their relationship with the DP World Tour.

In 2024, Robert MacIntyre became the first Scotsman to win his national open since Collin Motgomerie in 1999. MacIntyre will be joined by Calum Hill, Ewen Ferguson, Grant Forrest, Conner Syme and Scott Jamieson as those looking to claim victory on home soil.

Other notable golfers playing this week include Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 4,) Tommy Fleetwood (No. 7,) Wyndham Clark (No. 9,) J.J. Spaun (No. 10,) Viktor Hovland (No. 12,) Xander Schauffele (No. 13) and Chris Gotterup (No. 14.)

Gotterup comes in as the defending champion, besting both McIlroy and Marco Penge by two strokes a season ago to secure his second PGA Tour victory.

Xander Schauffele (2023) is the only other winner of this event since it became a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

The Course

The Renaissance Club is described as a modern Scottish links course that was established in 2008.

As a modern links course set in the birthplace of golf, the course differs from the usual PGA TOUR tracks but offers a change of pace.

It plays as a par-71 at 7,293 yards and offers a unique mixture of four par-fives, five par-threes and nine par-fours.

The Renaissance Club is a Tom Doak design and has become the most notable achievement in his famed architectural career. Courses on Tour that Doak designed include Memorial Park and St. George’s.

This course has become the home of the Scottish Open on the DP World Tour, the Scottish Senior Open on the European Senior Tour and the Ladies Scottish Open on the Ladies European Tour.

This year marks the eighth consecutive year that the Scottish Open has been played at The Renaissance Club.

Sitting just outside of Edinburgh and on the coastline, the course is exposed to the North Sea. That makes it susceptible to significant swings in weather conditions from day-to-day. Again, like what we see at The Open Championship, making this event a perfect warm-up for golf’s final Major of the season.

The fairways here are wide and generous but do run firm and fast, as is the way of link style courses. Although the fairways are wide and generous, there is the presence of penal fescue and pot bunkers that will require correct positioning off-the-tee.

With the firm and fast conditions of the fairways, this style of course tempts golfers to use the ground more often for increased rollouts, especially when the winds are increased.

This, of course, will give an advantage to golfers who are familiar with playing in high winds and extreme weather conditions.

Although those with above-average distance off-the-tee should see an advantage this week, the roll-outs on the fairways have kept short hitters in contention over the last eight years.

This course includes four reachable par-fives, a driveable par-four and five par-fours over 450 yards, which gives advantages to the long-bombers.

Subtle intricacies on the greens will cause fits to even the World’s best putters. Those intricacies of the greens were the design philosophy by Doak.

Due to this, short game and around-the-green work will be crucial this week.

The elements will dictate the difficulty of the course this week. 

During calm weather, golfers can easily score low here, which was the case in 2019 with the winning score coming in at -22.

When the winds and weather are a factor, the winning mark can be cut in half or even a third. Schauffele won at just -7 three years ago.

For this year’s playing of the event, the layout of the course has changed. Holes 1-7 have swapped with 10-16 to create a more dramatic finish down the stretch. 

What was once known as the “Stadium Hole” has been rebranded to the course’s signature hole and now titled "The Thistle.” It will now play as the 15th hole this week. The seating around “The Thistle” too was expanded to allow upwards of 3,000 patrons to surround the green.

Beyond the rerouting of the holes this week, the course as a whole has not changed.

Those of the DP World Tour can see an advantage this week as this serves as a unique test for the PGA Tour golfers. These conditions that are possible are aspects that those of the DP World Tour are all too familiar with. 

In all, this is a course and event that should be won by a golfer that is elite in ball-striking with plus distance off the tee.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this , Thursday is calling for just a five-percent chance of precipitation. Friday and Saturday is calling for a 20-percent chance of precipitation and Sunday a five-percent chance. Temperatures will be the highest on Thursday and Friday at 69-degrees before dropping to 68-degrees on Saturday and 66-degrees on Sunday. Winds will begin the week at 11 miles-per-hour on Thursday before reaching 12 miles-per-hour on Friday and peaking at 13 miles-per-hour across both days of the weekend. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Ball Striking

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Par Three Average Scoring

• Par Five Average Scoring

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Average Driving Distance

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT) / Three-Putt Avoidance

• Scrambling

Betting Card

Matt Fitzpatrick (+2000)

There is a unique skill set for success at links golf courses and Fitzpatrick has that. He annually has one of the lowest ball flights on the PGA Tour, which is crucial for success at links golf, especially if the weather is poor. If we look back to last season, Gotterup won this event and he too ranks within the top five of lowest ball flights on the PGA Tour. Fitzpatrick is currently first on Tour in SG: ATG, second in both SG: APP and SG: TTG, third in ball striking, 13th in par-three average scoring, 15th in par-five average scoring, 16th in birdie-or-better percentage, 21st in scrambling, 40th in SG: OTT, 69th in average driving distance, 94th in SG: PUTT and 115th in three-putt avoidance. He last played the Travelers Championship where he placed fourth. Prior to that he placed 22nd at the U.S. Open, second at the RBC Canadian Open, 36th at the Memorial Tournament and 14th at the PGA Championship. He also has had some great outings at this event. He placed fourth last season and 39th in 2024. He missed the cut in 2023 but placed sixth in 2022, second in 2021 and 42nd in 2020. 

Wyndham Clark (+3500)

Over the past two-months, no one has arguably been better than Clark in the world of golf. He placed fifth in his latest outing at the Travelers Championship. He also won the U.S. Open, at a links style golf course in Shinnecock Hills. Clark also placed 11th at the RBC Canadian Open, third at the Memorial Tournament and won THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. He too has been rather good at this event over the past four seasons. He placed 11th a season ago, tenth in 2024, 25th in 2023 and 16th in 2022. Clark is currently first on Tour in par-three average scoring, second in birdie-or-better percentage, ninth in SG: ATG, 16th in both SG: APP and SG: TTG, 25th in SG: PUTT, 37th in average driving distance, 42nd in par-five average scoring, 47th in scrambling, 51st in ball striking, 88th in three-putt avoidance and 91st in SG: OTT. 

Nicolai Hojgaard (+6600)

Hojgaard has had a tough go of things as of late, missing three consecutive cuts at the Memorial Tournament, RBC Canadian Open and U.S. Open. However, he bounced back in his latest outing at the Travelers Championship, placing 14th. Over his career, mainly on the DP World Tour, Hojgaard has been proven to be a great links style golfer. He too has been great in the middle-east, playing desert golf. I’ve often said, desert golf is essentially links golf so the correlation is there. Hogjaard was also fourth here a season ago. He placed 39th in 2024, sixth in 2023 and missed the cut in 2022. On the PGA Tour, Hogjaard is currently fourth in average driving distance, 15th in par-five average scoring, 20th in SG: TTG, 28th in SG: APP, 35th in three-putt avoidance, 42nd in SG: OTT, 51st in SG: PUTT, 52nd in SG: ATG, 55th in scrambling, 59th in par-three average scoring, 71st in ball striking and 85th in birdie-or-better percentage. 

Jake Knapp (+8000)

For better or worse, this was my first click this week. Knapp too has one of the lowest ball flights on the PGA Tour, which is obviously something to pay attention to when it comes to links golf. He has been dealing with a wrist injury for some time now, missing a large portion of the season. He last played the Travelers Championship where he placed 55th. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open. However, he did place 22nd at this event a season ago. Knapp is currently second on Tour in SG: PUTT, fifth in birdie-or-better percentage, tenth in average driving distance, 24th in three-putt avoidance, 42nd in SG: APP, 50th in scrambling, 56th in SG: TTG, 58th in ball striking, 59th in par-three average scoring, 73rd in SG: OTT and 86th in SG: ATG. 

Tom Kim (+9000)

There’s something about links golf that strikes Tom Kim’s fancy. He placed third at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Also, of golfers with at least three starts at this event over the past six seasons, he has the best average finishing placement. He placed 17th a season ago, 15th in 2024, sixth in 2023 and third in 2022. Kim placed 46th last week at the John Deere Classic, third at the U.S. Open, 15th at the RBC Canadian Open, 54th at the Charles Schwab Challenge, 54th at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and sixth at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. He is currently eighth on Tour in scrambling, 11th in SG: APP, 24th in SG: TTG, 28th in ball striking, 33d in SG: ATG, 39th in par-five average scoring, 65th in birdie-or-better percentage, 69th in par-three average scoring, 88th in both average driving distance and three-putt avoidance, 102nd in SG: PUTT and 104th in SG: OTT.

Jayden Schaper (+25000)

Being a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour, I had to roll out one DPWT member as my long shot. Schaper has been great on the DP World Tour this season. He placed 59th last week at the BMW International Open, 11th at the KLM Open, 24th at the Soudal Open and 25th at the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship. Earlier in the season he won both the Alfred Dunhill Championship and AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. He also placed fourth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and ninth at the Qatar Masters, both desert golf tracks which as I previously mentioned, correlate to links style golf. On the DP World Tour Schaper is currently seventh in SG: TTG, eighth in birdie-or-better percentage, 12th in SG: OTT, 17th in par-five average scoring, 19th in SG: ATG, 21st in SG: APP, 23rd in three-putt avoidance, 31st in scrambling, 32nd in SG: PUTT, 54th in ball striking, 95th in par-three average scoring and 124th in average driving distance. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.

2025 Betting Card

• Ludvig Aberg (+3000) - T8th

• Sam Burns (+4000) - T47th

• Nicolai Hojgaard (+9000) - T4th

• Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+10000) - MC

• Thorbjorn Olesen (+10000) - T60th

2024 Betting Card

• Ludvig Aberg (+1600) - T4th

• Tommy Fleetwood (+2800) - T34th

• Tom Kim (+3500) - T15th

• Justin Thomas (+4000) - T62nd 

• Rasmus Hojgaard (+10000) - T21st

• Andrew Novak (+20000) - T70th

2023 Betting Card

• Patrick Cantlay (+1400) - MC

• Tyrell Hatton (+2000) - T6th

• Max Homa (+4200) - T12th

• Wyndham Clark (+4800) - T25th

• Byeong Hun An (+16000) - T3rd

• Kevin Yu (+25000) - MC