Genesis Scottish Open Odds, Picks, and PGA Tour Preview: World’s Stars Prepare for The Open

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour unite for this week’s Genesis Scottish Open as the precursor to the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. We preview the 2022 Scottish Open with our top golf picks.

In preparation for next week’s Open Championship at St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, 14 of the top 15 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) tee it up at the Genesis Scottish Open. The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland hosts the tune-up event for the final major of 2022.

Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and Matt Fitzpatrick enter the week among the betting favorites with a major victory apiece this year. Jon Rahm is also a top contender while still ranked third in the OWGR. Rory McIlroy (No. 2) and Tiger Woods are notable absentees from the field ahead of The Open Championship as Min Woo Lee prepares to defend his 2021 title.

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Here are my top outright picks for the 2022 Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.

Scottish Open Odds

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Scottish Open Odds Analysis

Rahm is the consensus favorite this week, even with his only win of 2022 coming against a watered-down field in the Mexico Open. This year’s first three major winners all come in closely behind, with Xander Schauffele also in the mix in the wake of his Travelers Championship win two weeks ago.

Our top-rated sportsbooks are in disagreement over the pricing of Lee as the reigning Scottish Open winner. He has odds as high as +13000 to successfully defend his title at DraftKings Sportsbook and as low as +7000 via BetMGM. The field for last year’s Scottish Open was one of the strongest ever for the event, but this year's competition is even tougher.

By the measure of the OWGR, Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns — ranked eighth and ninth respectively — are tremendous values to win this week. They’re each priced at +2800 or higher across our top books.

The Renaissance Club Course Profile

Par: 71Length: 7,293 yardsGreens: Fescue

The Scottish Open is at the Tom Doak-designed Renaissance Club for the fourth straight year. The three previous three runnings of the event each went to a playoff with the winning score ranging from Aaron Rai’s -11 in 2020 to Bernd Wiesberger’s -22 in 2019. Lee won at -18 last year.

The Renaissance Club is considered to be a tight driving course, but that hasn’t deterred the tightly-contested low scores. The venue is relatively long for a par 71.  The majority of par 4s range from 450-500 yards. Three of the five par 3s top 200 yards and three par 5s range from 550-600 yards.

Scottish Open Key Stats

Strokes gained: off-the-teeSG: approachSG: around-the-greenBirdie or better percentagePar 4 efficiency: 450-500 yardsPar 3 efficiency: 200-225 yards

All three of the winners of the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club have belonged primarily to the European Tour even with a routinely high number of PGA Tour stars using it as an opportunity to prepare for The Open. That said, Justin Thomas leads those in this field with more than one appearance at this venue with 1.85 total strokes gained on the field per round across his eight rounds. He tied for eighth last year and for ninth in 2019.

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Even though the venue is tight off the tee, shorter and more accurate hitters have had little advantage over the longer bombers. It has proven best to cover as much distance as possible off the tee. From there, we’ll look at the staple stats of SG: approach and SG: around-the-green. We can disregard sand save percentage as the pot bunkers are in no way comparable to the regular PGA Tour-style bunkers.

Scoring is highly important however it can be done with five players shooting a 72-hole score of -18 or better in the three years that this event has been held at The Renaissance Club.

Scottish Open Picks

Sungjae Im (+4500 via DraftKings)Lucas Herbert (+6000 viaPointsBet)Tyrrell Hatton (+6500 via DraftKings)

Who Will Win the Scottish Open?

Im (+4500)

Sungjae Im quite quietly has racked up six top-10 finishes this year to move from No. 26 to No. 23 in the OWGR entering this week, even with a missed cut at the U.S. Open his last time out. The South Korean star has had a professional victory in each of the last four years, including one on the PGA Tour in each of 2020 and 2021. He'll look for his first European Tour/DP World Tour win this week in the co-sanctioned event.

Im has never played The Renaissance Club professionally, and he missed the cut in his lone appearance to date at The Open. However, he's a strong course fit while averaging 0.67 SG: off-the-tee, 0.54 SG: around-the-green, and 0.34 SG: approach per round. He's also gaining strokes with his putter and from tee to green while ranking 28th on the PGA Tour this season in birdie or better percentage.

Caesars Sportsbook has odds of +3500 for Im to win this week. The +4500 available at DraftKings presents excellent value.

Herbert (+6000)

Lucas Herbert isn't a statistical fit for The Renaissance Club based on his 2021-22 season play, but he can get back on track at a course where he tied for fourth each of the past two years. In all, Herbert has averaged 1.17 total strokes gained on the field per round across 12 career rounds at this venue.

Herbert claimed his first PGA Tour victory at last year's Butterfield Bermuda Championship. While the field this week is significantly stronger than that, he has more notable victories at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. The latter of those had past Scottish Open winners Lee and Rai tie for 12th.

Statistically, Herbert's strength this season is his play on and around the greens. That, coupled with his promising history in North Berwick, should spark a turnaround ahead of the final major of 2022.

Hatton (+6500)

Tyrrell Hatton, a six-time winner on the European/DP World Tour, is a forgotten name on odds boards this week at +6500. The Englishman has slipped from 22nd to 28th in the OWGR since the end of 2021 after following up his T-56 finish at the U.S. Open with a missed cut at last week's Irish Open. However, he finished T-6 or better in each of his previous two events on this side of the Atlantic.

Hatton is gaining strokes in all key categories this season, including 0.60 SG: putting and 0.18 SG: around-the-green. Furthermore, he finished T-14 and T-18 in his previous two appearances at this event in 2019 and 2021 respectively, with an average of 1.22 total strokes gained on the field per round.

Where to Bet on the PGA Tour

Here are our top-rated sportsbooks:

FanDuel SportsbookCaesars SportsbookDraftKings SportsbookPointsBetBetMGM

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Scottish Open picks made on 7/4/2022 at 5:30 p.m. ET.