As we prepare for the 150th Open Championship, the PGA TOUR will make one final stop to play the Genesis Scottish Open at The Rennaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The tournament is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, with a field comprised of members from both.
The Rennaissance Club is a 7,293-yard par 71. The Tom Doak design is a links-style golf course and should provide players with the chance to acclimate to links golf as part of their preparation for the Open Championship.
The Scottish Open will play host to 156 golfers, and the field is absolutely loaded. Fourteen of the top 15 players in the OWGR will be teeing it up this, with the only exception being Rory McIlroy. The field also features plenty of other star power, including Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.
For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.
And if you missed it, we added two new metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.
The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.
For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 150 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.
Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Approach will once again be an essential statistic this week. The course record is held by Bernd Weisberger, who has been one of the most precise iron players in the world throughout his career.
- High-end target: Cameron Smith— $9,100 (3rd in Strokes Gained: Approach)
- Mid-range target: Max Homa— $8,000 (2nd in Strokes Gained: Approach)
- Value target: Harold Varner III— $7,500 (5th in Strokes Gained: Approach)
Birdie or Better: Gained
The difficulty of the Renaissance Club will be entirely dependent on the weather. If the wind doesn’t pick up, there’s a good chance the winning score could get close to the -20 range.
- High-end target: Cameron Smith— $9,100 (1st Birdie or Better: Gained)
- Mid-range target: Mito Pereira— $7,700 (6th Birdie or Better: Gained)
- Value target: Stewart Cink— $6,400 (12th Birdie or Better: Gained)
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
Off the Tee will undoubtedly be a factor this week. The Renaissance club features relatively tight fairways, and longer hitters have fared well here in the past as well.
- High-end target: Jon Rahm $11,000 (1st Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)
- Mid-range target: Mito Pereira— $7,700 (7th Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)
- Value target: Luke List— $7,200 (8th Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)
Strokes Gained: Par 3
With five Par 3’s on the course, it’ll be crucial to play them effectively in order to contend.
- High-end target: Xander Schauffele— $9,900 (1st Strokes Gained: Par 3)
- Mid-range target: Tommy Fleetwood— $8,400 (5th Strokes Gained: Par 3)
- Value target: Bio Kim— $6,600 (7th Strokes Gained: Par 3)
Strokes Gained: Putting (Slow)
The greens in Scotland are typically much slower than what the players who play primarily on the PGA Tour are used to. Therefore, it makes sense to evaluate which TOUR players have had success on slower greens.
- High-end target: Xander Schauffele— $9,900 (5th Strokes Gained: Putting (Slow)
- Mid-range target: Jordan Spieth— $8,900 (2nd Strokes Gained: Putting (Slow)
- Value target: Brian Harman— $7,700— (1st Strokes Gained: Putting (Slow)
