The PGA Tour heads across the pond, and this week’s stop might be the deepest field we’ve seen all summer. The Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club pulls double duty as a co-sanctioned PGA Tour/DP World Tour event, providing excellent prep and a dress rehearsal for next week’s Open Championship.
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Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy headline, with the addition of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton back in a PGA Tour field via their DP World Tour ties. Defending champion Chris Gotterup arrives fresh off a Sunday 62 to steal the John Deere Classic to defend his title. The Renaissance Club is an Americanized version of links golf, but still drastically different than anything we have seen in recent weeks.
Read The Line’s Joe Idone and John Haslbauer break down Robert MacIntyre’s secret to success at the Genesis Scottish Open:
Watch Read The Line’s full betting breakdown of the Genesis Scottish Open—as the crew looks for a third straight winning ticket.
A new golf course by Scottish standards, as this Tom Doak design opened in 2008 and stretches roughly 7,300 yards. The scoring depends almost entirely on the weather, and more specifically, the wind. Driving distance and power have proven to be advantageous here, but ultimately this comes down to a test of control, with putting often deciding who is left holding the trophy on Sunday.
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Previous Next Pause Play false The Renaissance Club North Berwick, Scotland
In golf-rich East Lothian, an American family, the Sarvadis, leased land featuring 300 acres of pine trees planted by Britain’s Forestry Commission after World War II and hired Tom Doak to design a links-style course. Though over 8,000 tons of wood was cleared from the site, Doak kept a number of trees on the site until the club cut down more trees a few years after opening. The Renaissance Club traded some land with neighboring Muirfield, which Muirfield used to lengthen its ninth hole ahead of the 2013 Open Championship. Renaissance Club acquired some extra dunesland that Doak and his team incorporated into the current layout on its holes nine through 11 (holes 12 through 14). The land offers beautiful views of the Firth of Fourth, and the tumbling land provides a good links-like test ahead of The Open Championship each year. Explore our full review
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Without further ado, here are my top-10 contenders to win the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open.
10. Alex Fitzpatrick
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Tracy Wilcox
The little brother has proven that he belongs, earning his way into the field this week with the opportunity to put a bow on a dream summer of golf. Alex Fitzpatrick has repeatedly put together clean cards and positive metrics on approach all season, third-best in the field since joining the PGA Tour full time.
Fitzpatrick has been cutting his teeth on the DP World Tour for years and should feel right at home playing this unique style of golf. He’s a long shot to win but is worthy of consideration to contend on a hybrid-style golf course the properly aligns with his current strengths and form.
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9. Viktor Hovland
Whatever he was searching for in those long, lonely range sessions at Shinnecock Hills after missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Viktor Hovland has since found. A winner in the Monday playoff against Scheffler at the Travelers, the Norwegian is now confidently rowing his way over to Scotland.
What we saw at Travelers was far from a fluke. When Hovland syncs up his swing, he’s proven to be a generational flusher of the ball who can win against any field. Excellent iron play travels everywhere, and Hovland is clicking at the perfect time. He’s priced affordably on the odds board and is surely a high-ceiling option that is complementary to any betting card.
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8. Ludvig Aberg
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Jordan Bank
Ludvig Aberg has the second-best scoring average at The Renaissance Club in the field, trailing only McIlroy, and that alone should cleanly illustrate the course fit. Aberg’s consistent, efficient ball flight allows him to control trajectory as well as anyone, which always plays well on the links.
There has been some recent slippage of form, but most of that falls on the shoulders of a cold putter. A trip back to The Renaissance Club might be just what the doctor orders, as Aberg has dominated on these greens the past two seasons. If he brings his best, he’s surely well-suited to excel on this kind of test.
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7. Chris Gotterup
The defending champion was a surprise winner here last year. In the last calendar year, Chris Gotterup has very little left to prove. Two wins early in the year bolstered confidence, and a fiery final-round 62 at TPC Deere Run last week added another trophy to his mantle.
When Gotterup is rolling, he looks unbeatable and appears to be a player who elevates his game under intense pressure. All that said, he’s still far from a betting favorite, which speaks to the depth and quality of this field. The broad shoulders of Gotterup are built for this, and he’s already solved this puzzle before. This is not the player to fade in Scotland.
6. Robert MacIntyre
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Icon Sportswire
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Potentially a bit of a stretch given his positioning on the odds board, but I have high hopes for Robert MacIntyre back in Scotland. He nearly won on home soil in 2023, finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy, then finished the job a year later with an electric closing birdie. This version of the Scottish Open belongs to MacIntyre as much as anybody.
The early wind forecasts look tame, but we know how quickly that can change. When the flag starts whipping, most of the field will appear wild uncomfortable over the ball. That’s not the case with MacIntyre, who will leverage that advantage with his trending ball-striking to find his way onto the leaderboard.
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5. Xander Schauffele
In the midst of a season where the Schauffele-wagon is stuck in neutral, The Renaissance Club is the perfect spot for a jump start. Nobody in the field has gained more strokes over the years here than Xander Schauffele, and it isn’t particularly close. He won here in 2022 and has finished no worse than eighth place in any start at this venue since.
Schauffele has the perfectly balanced skill profile that is built for any course or weather conditions. He isn’t reliant on any one strength to carry him, but rather the combination of putting it all together. This makes him one of the safest players in positional markets, and when you see his name on the leaderboard, it tends to stay there.
4. Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm’s return to a PGA Tour field is the subplot of the week, but don’t let the storyline distract from the win equity that Rahm brings any time that he tees it up. Out of sight for most on LIV, he is still one of the most complete ball-strikers alive. On a links style setup that punishes mishits, the ball always comes out of the center of the clubface for Rahm.
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I suppose the rust question is fair, but the shot-making ability of Rahm has not gone anywhere. If he arrives at Scotland prepared and dialed in with the putter, do not discount his chances to win this co-sanctioned PGA Tour event. What a story that would be.
3. Matt Fitzpatrick
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Jordan Bank
At this point in the summer, Matt Fitzpatrick is currently the front-runner for PGA Tour Player of the Year, and his fourth win is right within reach. The stats highlight his improvement and form, and he comes with one of the deepest course history profiles in the field.
Nobody controls trajectory as well as Fitzpatrick, who has one of the lowest apexes on the PGA Tour, making him an ideal fit on any coastal links course where the wind equates to unpredictability. Fitzpatrick checks far too many boxes to disregard in this tournament. He’s priced like a top threat, because he’s proven that he is one.
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2. Scottie Scheffler
Golf walks the finest of lines. If Scottie Scheffler buries a three-foot putt against Hovland last Monday, goes on to win, all is right for World No. 1, and we’re back to showering him in praise as the best in the world. But, he missed. Statistically, he’s improving from the early season approach “slump,” but you have to wonder if any scar tissue is starting to build.
The price is short, like always, but it has to be. Scheffler is hungry to win, and you cannot argue that he clearly possesses the best all-around game in the field. It feels like his floor performance is as high as I can remember, and there is no scenario where Scottie Scheffler is not a serious factor in this tournament next Sunday.
1. Rory McIlroy
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Christian Petersen
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Despite his lineage, most links golf courses in Europe do not disproportionately weigh the unique skills of Rory McIlroy as well as venues in the United States. That is not the case here. The Renaissance Club is a perfect fit for McIlroy, who can send driver off the tee box with freedom as this course has one of the lowest missed fairway penalties that we see all season.
His resume here reads like a highlight reel. He was. The 2023 champion, and he went off in the final pairing last year. His long-iron game travels and can help him separate, and McIlroy has proven that he can spike with the putter on these greens. If his game is in proper order to start the tournament, this may be the sharpest course on tour to deploy McIlroy to win.
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Joe Idone is a Read The Line contributor and host of the Preferred Lines podcast.
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