2026 Genesis Scottish Open Picks, Best Bets, Player Rankings, Course Preview & Open Championship Prep

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2026 Genesis Scottish Open Field

• Field: 156 Players
• Top 65 & Ties Make The Cut
• First Tee: Thursday, July 9
• Defending Champion: Chris Gotterup

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Who needs designated signature events when we get a field this stacked? Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, the Fitzpatrick brothers, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Chris Gotterup, and Ludvig Åberg are all getting in their Open Championship prep this week at the Scottish Open. Oh, and since this is a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton, David Puig, Tom McKibbin, and Laurie Canter are all in the field as well. To me, that’s pretty exciting. I suppose your mileage may vary, but this is the first event under the PGA TOUR umbrella where we’ll get PGA TOUR vs. LIV action.

Marco Penge is back playing a PGA TOUR event for the first time since the PGA Championship. He’s been sidelined with injury and illness for the past two months and made his return to competitive action last week at the BMW International Open in Germany.

Despite previously withdrawing before the tournament, Nico Echavarria and Sam Stevens are currently listed in the field for the Scottish Open.

This represents the penultimate opportunity to qualify for The Open Championship. Three spots will be available to players not already exempt via their performance at The Renaissance Club. The final qualifying opportunity comes at Royal Birkdale on Monday.

2026 Scottish Open KEY STATS

• Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
• 3-Putt Avoidance
• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Par 3s Gained 200-225 Yards

Mayo’s Key Stat Rankings Powered by the Rabbit Hole at Betsperts Golf

2026 Scottish Open COURSE

• Course: Renaissance Club
• Yards: 7,237
• Par: 70
• Greens: Fescue
• Green Size: 7,000 sq. Feet
• Bunkers: 83
• Holes with Water Hazards: Zero

Par 3’s (5): Average Distance – 187 yards

-> 2 under 165 yards (the other three are north of 200)

• 2025 Gotterup: Fired a second round 61, bogey free, with three Par 3 birdies
• Five of the six most oft-pard holes, three having a sub-13% birdie rate. Survive and advance

(Hole #9 is a problem with the fourth highest bogey rate on the course, following a tough Par 4 #8 where golfers can limp to the turn)

Par 4’s (10): Average Distance – 454 yards

-> 3 under 425 with 5 measuring 475+

• 2025 Gotterup: Multiple bogeys in three of four rounds four of his six bogeys for the week came on Par 4’s (none of his bogeys for the week came on the same hole)
• The three toughest (and five of the six hardest) holes are Par 4’s. Four of those five measured 475+ yards and have a double-or-worse rate north of 2%

Par 5’s (3): Average Distance – 590 yards

• 2025 Gotterup: Birdied all the Par 5’s on Sunday (the only day he got all three of them for the week). This came after not getting any of them on Saturday.
• Three of the four easiest with two holding a +2% eagle rate and sub-8% bogey rate

DFS Streak

This course is designed to limit momentum and that means you don’t have to waste too much mental power in this regard. The toughest three-hole stretch on the course is 7-8-9 (all of them have a bogey rate that is more than double the under par rate) and the next most difficult is 18-1-2 (Holes 18 and 2 are the two toughest on property).

It’s very possible to build birdie streaks on both sides of this course, but they rarely happen when bridging the nine’s, so don’t look this direction for a Showdown tiebreaker.

2026 Scottish Open PAST WINNERS

PGA DP World Tour Co-Sanctioned

• 2025: Chris Gotterup -15
• 2024: Robert MacIntyre -18
• 2023: Rory McIlroy -15
• 2022: Xander Schauffele -7

DP World Tour Only

• 2021: Min Woo Lee -18
• 2020: Aaron Rai -11
• 2019: Bernard Wiesberger -22

2025 was the first instance of a multi-stroke winner since this event moved to the Renaissance Club in 2019 (four years as a solo Euro event before becoming a PGA/DPWT event in 2022)

WINNER PROFILE

2025: Chris Gotterup -15 (+6500) beat Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge by 2

• OTT ranks for the week of the top 5: 3-2-78 (McIlroy)-4-63 (Fitzpatrick)
• Off the top-5 finishers, four finished inside the top 15 ARG for the week

2024: Robert MacIntyre (+4000) beat Adam Scott by 1

• Results for MacIntyre were spotty entering play, but he did gain OTT in his four lead-in events (and in seven of eight prior to the win)
• Sahith Theegala (T-4) was the only top-14 finisher to lose strokes on the Par 3’s
• APP is always important, but it alone couldn’t save golfers in 2024 … four of the top 10 in APP for the week missed the cut (Keith Mitchell, Jordan Smith, Matti Schmid, and Tom McKibbin)

2023: Rory McIlroy (+900) beat Robert MacIntyre by 1

• Different ways to succeed. McIlroy, Scheffler, and An all cashed top-5 paychecks with top-5 OTT weeks. Lingmerth cashed a top-5 and ranked 107th for the week OTT
• Was in God mode (five straight top-10’s entering play) and had gained north of 5 strokes on approach in consecutive events prior
• McIlroy ($10,900) won and was the top scoring fantasy option … the next three top fantasy assets cost under $7,500
• The top of the board for the week all started strong (the top-5 finishers average score in Round 1: -4.8)

2022: Xander Schauffele (+1800) beat Kurt Kitayama by 1

• Won at Travelers in his event prior (five straight top-20’s gave him elite form). The approach game was especially strong: 4+ strokes gained in four measured events prior
• Patrick Cantlay was the only top-9 finisher to lose strokes putting from 25+ feet away

2021: Min Woo Lee (-18, playoff win over Thomas Detry and Matt Fitzpatrick)

• He had one top-20 finish for the season prior to this win … it came at the Irish Open, his lead-in event

2020: Aaron Rai (-11, playoff win over Tommy Fleetwood)

2019: Bernd Wiesberger (-22, playoff win over Benjamin Herbert)

Open Championship Lead in

Each of the five Champion Golfers of the year played in the Scottish Open the week before, and of the last four, the worst finish of that group was Brian Harman in 2023 (T12 at Scottish Open)

Gotterup, (25) Rory (23) and Xander (22) finished top 15 at The Open the week following this win. Bobby Mac did not. He was T50 at the 2024 Open.

Top of the board at the Scottish Open in 2025 and (where they finished at The Open)

• WIN Chris Gotterup (3rd)
• T2 Rory McIlroy (T7)
• T2 Marco Penge (MC)
• T4 Matt Fitzpatrick (T4)
• T4 Nicolai Hojgaard (T14)
• 6th Justin Rose (T16)
• 7th Sepp Straka (T52)
• T8 Scottie Scheffler (WIN)
• T8 Xander Schauffele (T7)
• T8 Ludvig Aberg (T23)

Top of the board at the Scottish Open in 2024 and where they finished at The Open

• WIN Bobby Mac (T50)
• 2nd Adam Scott (T10)
• 3rd Langasque (WD)
• T4 Sungjae (T7)
• T4 Rory (MC)
• T4 Morikawa (T16)
• T4 Theegala (MC)
• T4 Aberg (MC)
• T4 Rai (T75)
• T10 Noren (T13)

Top of the board at the Scottish Open in 2023 and where they finished at The Open

• WIN Rory (T6)
• 2nd MacIntyre (T71)
• T3 David Lingmerth (T68)
• T3 Scottie Scheffler (T23)
• T3 Benny An (T23)
• T6 Nicolai Hojgaard (T23)
• T6 Tyrell Hatton (T20)
• T6 JT Poston (T41)
• T6 Tommy Fleetwood (T10)
• T6 Tom Kim (T2)

FIRST ROUND LEADERS

*AM/PM splits are based on local time

2025

64 – Sepp Straka (AM), Nico Echavarria (AM), Jake Knapp (AM), Victor Perez (PM)

2024

62 – Justin Thomas (PM)

2023

61 – Ben An (AM)

2022

61 – Cameron Tringale (AM)

2026 Scottish Open Notes

Memorial Park in Houston: Both Tom Doak designs, massive leaderboard crossover, and similar driver heavy focus/ball speed focus.

Accuracy super low. GIR really high.

Only four holes on the Ocean and you’re not going to hit into it.

Fairway bunkers the biggest defense.

• 81% GIR Fairway (78% AVERAGE)
• 56% Rough (52% Average)
• Only 18% Bunkers (49% Average)

The wind and weather can also provide a reasonable defense, but the past few years at this event, there have been terrific conditions. The last truly weather affected year was 2022 when Xander won at -8. Current forecast looks solid. Nothing crazy as of now.

2026 Scottish Open Picks

Tyrrell Hatton — It hasn’t mattered whether it’s been the majors, LIV, the DP World Tour, or the Asian Tour; Hatton has continued to hover around the top of leaderboards over the past year. He has a terrific track record in Scotland, having been one of the best performers at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship over the years. Even dating back to when the Scottish Open was solely a DP World Tour event, he’s never finished worse than T24 at The Renaissance Club.

Kurt Kitayama — Kitayama’s ball striking continues to rank among the elite, even when measured against the best players in the world. He previously recorded a runner-up finish at The Renaissance Club, and his European experience should prove beneficial if the weather conditions deteriorate in Scotland.

2026 ISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

• Course: Hurstbourne CC
• Yards: 7,056
• Par: 70
• Greens: Bentgrass
• Green Size: 4,750 sq. Feet
• Bunkers: 68
• Holes with Water Hazards: 6
• Average Fairway Widths: 25-30 yards

2026 ISCO Championship NOTES

• The nines are switched for the ISCO Championship.
• Renovation included adjusting tees, bunkers and green slopes.
• Winter was harsh with prolonged cold temperatures causing some winter kill in the fairways.

• Originally designed by Chick Adams in the 1960s, the course was renovated in 2005 highlighted by a major bunker improvement program. For the PGA TOUR, they’ve switched the nines versus the normal routing so as to not finish on a par 3.

This course switch seems to have been overlooked by most this week, as we get away from the BOMBS away venue to a tight, short, parkland track. Hurstbourne is one of the five shortest courses of the year and features the third smallest green complexes.

2026 ISCO CHAMPIONSHIP PICKS

Christiaan Bezuidenhout — Enters riding a heater with his approach play, which was the largest predictor of the leaderboard year one Hurstbourne. He even spiked with his putter at JDC a week ago as well. Plus, at a course this short, he can get away with his usual lack of distance if he can hit some fairways.