A marquee field has assembled for this week’s Scottish Open, which begins Thursday at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
It’s the final tune-up before The 151st Open next week. Our golf experts provide key notes along with their favorite prop picks and best bets to win.
SCOTTISH OPEN
Location: North Berwick, July 13-16
Course: The Renaissance Club (Par 70, 7,237 yards)
Purse: $9M (Winner: $1.62M)
Defending Champion: Xander Schauffele
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (GC), 12-3 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 2:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 4:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Twitter: @ScottishOpen
PROP PICKS
–Min Woo Lee to Beat Justin Thomas (-115 at DraftKings): Lee rebounded from a trio of missed cuts over the spring to post four top-20s in his past five starts, including a T5 at the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Thomas continues to struggle with his form. Struggling to even qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Thomas added the Rocket Mortgage Classic to his schedule, only to miss the weekend for the third time in his past four events.
–Rory McIlroy to Shoot 67 or Lower Round 1 (-110 at BetMGM): The Renaissance Club is a Par 70, meaning McIlroy needs to shoot 3 under or better to cash this prop out. McIlroy isn’t always the strongest starter, often working his way into contention in the middle rounds of a tournament. He also enters with five consecutive top-10 finishes and can’t afford a slow start against a very strong field.
–Viktor Hovland to Finish Top-10 (+190 at DraftKings): The young Norwegian continues to show well against elite fields. That includes a win at the Memorial to go with a T2 at the PGA and 19th at the U.S. Open in his past five starts.
2023 Prop Picks Record: 30-41-2
BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+700 at BetMGM) has finished T12 or better in 17 consecutive starts and leads the PGA Tour with 14 top-10s this season. Despite being the pre-tournament favorite, Scheffler is third at the book with 7.1 percent of the total money backing him to win. Despite even lower odds at +650 at DraftKings, he leads the field in both total bets (16 percent) and money (12 percent).
–Rory McIlroy (+900) will make his eighth event start and enters with a streak of five consecutive top-10 results. His BetMGM odds have lengthened a bit since opening at +750 despite being second at the book with 7.2 percent of the total bets supporting him. At DraftKings, McIlroy has drawn the second most bets with 10 percent at +1000.
–Patrick Cantlay (+1400) at No. 4 is the highest-ranked player in the world without a win on the PGA Tour this season.
–Xander Schauffele (+1400) is defending the third of his three titles from last season. He has yet to successfully defend in his first six career attempts.
–Tyrrell Hatton (+1800) has been one of the most popular players among the public. Since opening at +2500, the Englishman has drawn the most money with 12.3 percent, making him BetMGM’s second biggest liability this week.
–Rickie Fowler (+1800) is coming off a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which was also his fourth top-10 in his past five starts.
–Viktor Hovland (+1800) finished T29 in his most recent start, breaking a streak of four consecutive top-20s.
–Tommy Fleetwood (+2200): Fleetwood is the book’s No. 1 liability, leading the field with 7.5 percent of the total bets and he’s second with 10.7 percent of the money. Fleetwood narrowly missed his first PGA Tour win at the Canadian Open and followed it up with a T5 at the U.S. Open before missing the cut at the Travelers in his most recent event.
–Ludvig Aberg (+5500): Has enjoyed a strong start to his professional career, finishing T25 at the Canadian Open to begin a streak of four consecutive cuts made. That was highlighted by last week’s T4 at the John Deere Classic, where the Swede closed with a 63 on Sunday. Aberg is the book’s third biggest liability this week.
NOTES
–The Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour for the second year, with each tour featuring a minimum of 75 players in the 156-player field. It is also the final of four PGA Tour events that is part of the Open Qualifying Series (OQS) that provides spots into next week’s The 151st Open. The top three players who are not otherwise exempt and make the cut this week will earn an exemption.
–Only six events remain over the next four weeks before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with the top 70 players in the standings qualifying for the first leg.
–The event is Scotland’s national open and is part of both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai.
–Justin Thomas (+4000) has finished in the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings each of the past six seasons, but currently sits in 70th place – the final cutoff spot to reach the playoffs.
–Field Level Media