You can read Liam Williams’ Power Rankings for the Genesis Scottish Open at bet365 News.
Course Overview. The Renaissance Club is this week’s host course for the eighth year running, which gives us the last seven years worth of renewals to review as a starting point.
Despite sitting on Scotland’s ‘Golf Coast’ in the stretch of land between Muirfield and Archerfield Links, the Renaissance Club isn’t an historic links track – instead it was manufactured from an old pine forest and opened in 2008.
Aesthetically it looks linksy on a stretch of land that’s famous for its links tracks and built to a brief to make it appear like it had been there for a century, however for the purists it’s more ‘links-like’ than pure links. Trees and an old wall complicate matters a little in that respect, balanced with 3 relatively new holes which flank the shore and typical links features such as deep bunkering, gorse and thick rough.
The par 70 is listed as playing 7,282 yards for this week’s test, although that’s from the back tees largely and the DP World Tour have the flexibility to keep the yardage fluid so it remains to be seen how it sets up each day. 3 par-5s and 5 par-3s explains the par of 70. There’s been some re-routing since last year’s event with the objective of creating a stronger finishing stretch, with the 6th and 15th holes swapping positions amongst other tweaks, however for all intents and purposes we’re playing the same course as previous years.
Greens are fescue-based, similar to those used at Castle Stuart in this event in the relatively recent past, as well as at Royal Birkdale for the 2017 Open Championship.
Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s Scottish Open that will help to shape a view on players who traditionally play well at this event.
As noted above, Renaissance Club hosted this event for the first time in 2019: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader | Combined Stats | SG Stats.
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
Winners & Prices. 2025: Chris Gotterup, 150/1; 2024: Robert Macintyre, 55/1; 2023: Rory McIlroy, 8/1; 2022: Xander Schauffele, 20/1; 2021: Minwoo Lee, 200/1; 2020: Aaron Rai, 50/1; 2019: Bernd Wiesberger, 40/1; 2018: Brandon Stone, 400/1; 2017: Rafa Cabrera-Bello, 50/1; 2016: Alex Noren, 50/1; 2015: Rickie Fowler, 22/1; 2014: Justin Rose, 14/1; 2013: Phil Mickelson, 22/1; 2012: Jeev Milkha Singh, 100/1; 2011: Luke Donald, 10/1; 2010: Edoardo Molinari, 70/1.
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for the area is here.
A slightly soggy lead up to this year’s Scottish Open will improve somewhat for the tournament days with sunshine and showers expected and temperatures nudging towards 21 Centigrade/70 Fahrenheit when the sun makes any kind of prolonged appearance. Wind will be moderate at times at 10-15mph without being excessive, with Thursday being the calmest day.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors. Analysing the final stats of the winners here at the Renaissance Club gives a little more insight into what’s required to succeed on this track:
- 2025, Chris Gotterup (-15). 318 yards (9th), 42.3% fairways (61st), 72.2% greens in regulation (20th), 75.0% scrambling (4th), 1.65 putts per GIR (2nd)
- 2024, Robert Macintyre (-18). 308 yards (26th), 65.4% fairways (10th), 77.8% greens in regulation (17th), 68.8% scrambling (25th), 1.68 putts per GIR (7th)
- 2023, Rory McIlroy (-15). 331 yards (1st), 51.9% fairways (37th), 69.4% greens in regulation (28th), 63.6% scrambling (33rd), 1.63 putts per GIR (2nd)
- 2022, Xander Schauffele (-7). 309 yards (16th), 48.1% fairways (35th), 70.9% greens in regulation (5th), 42.9% scrambling (70th), 1.69 putts per GIR (6th)
- 2021, Minwoo Lee (-18). 305 yards (16th), 50% fairways (64th), 76.4% greens in regulation (27th), 64.7% scrambling (45th), 1.66 putts per GIR (3rd).
- 2020, Aaron Rai (-11). 285 yards (30th), 59.6% fairways (16th), 77.8% greens in regulation (4th), 81.3% scrambling (4th), 1.79 putts per GIR (29th).
- 2019, Bernd Wiesberger (-22). 302 yards (16th), 63.5% fairways (30th), 81.9% greens in regulation (23rd), 53.8% scrambling (59th), 1.65 putts per GIR (6th).
In easier conditions in 2019 and 2021, hitting greens wasn’t remotely an issue – you have to go all the way down to Kurt Kitayama in 43rd place before finding a player who failed to find 70% of GIR in 2019; similarly in 2021 the top 25 were all above that level – and players hitting 80% or more was commonplace both years. 2024 was fairly similar too with a winning score of -18 for Bob Macintyre and his 77.8% GIR only good enough for 17th on that metric.
Although 2023 was fairly challenging, 2020 was played in tougher conditions with lower temperatures, wind and rain at various points, leading to a much higher winning total. 2022 featured wind too, with Xander Schauffele’s eventual winning score of 7-under proving once again that exposed courses play as tough or as easy as the conditions dictate.2023 and 2025 were both won at 15-under so were somewhere in the middle in that respect with some wind in play on both occasions.
Given the large, easy to hit greens here, proximity is of importance for setting up birdie opportunities, as of course is having a putter warm enough to convert at a regular rate in normal conditions.
Strokes Gained: From a Strokes Gained perspective, SG Tee to Green is the most common success factor from the 7 renewals we have data recorded for here, with each of our winners ranking inside the top 8 on that metric:
- 2025, Chris Gotterup: T: 4th; A: 48th; T2G: 8th; ATG: 10th; P: 4th
- 2024, Robert Macintyre: T: 7th; A: 8th; T2G: 4th; ATG: 33rd; P: 18th
- 2023, Rory McIlroy: T: 3rd; A: 4th; T2G: 1st; ATG: 38th; P: 29th
- 2022, Xander Schauffele: T: 16th; A: 7th; T2G: 1st; ATG: 15th; P: 27th
- 2021, Minwoo Lee: T: 41st; A: 21st; T2G: 4th; ATG: 2nd; P: 17th
- 2020, Aaron Rai: T: 14th; A: 23rd, T2G: 2nd, ATG: 8th; P: 23rd
- 2019, Bernd Wiesberger: T: 27th; A: 3rd, T2G: 3rd, ATG: 44th; P: 21st
Key: T: SG Off the Tee; A; SG Approach; T2G: SG Tee to Green; ATG: SG Around the Green; P: SG Putting.
In the easiest of the 7 years back in 2019, SG Approach and SG Tee to Green were dominant factors for the top performers, whereas SG Around the Green was far more prominent in 2020’s tougher renewal, alongside SG Tee to Green again.
SG Putting was more prevalent in 2021, again combined with SG Tee to Green, whereas 2022 and 2023 saw Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy produce field-leading performances from Tee to Green. Robert Macintyre was a little more balanced in 2024, producing SG positive performances in every category, albeit with SG T2G still the standout number, and Chris Gotterup was also SG positive across the board last year.
Incoming Form: Current form students wouldn’t have taken long to dismiss the chance of Brandon Stone at Gullane back in 2018 with the South African having failed to break the top-60 on any of his previous 7 starts. 400/1 was the reward for punters who managed to overlook his recent finishes.
Prior to that, recent form for all winners of this event since 2010 listed below had been good enough to shortlist them at least, with each Scottish Open champion in that time having recorded a minimum of one top-10 finish in their last 4 starts. In fact you can extend that trend right back to 2002 with the marginal exception of 2004 winner Thomas Levet, however he had finished 8th at Wentworth 5 starts prior and 2nd in Italy a month before that.
2019 and 2020 winners of the Scottish Open, Rai and Wiesberger – both here at Renaissance – had finished as runner-up the week before at the Irish Open, whereas Minwoo Lee had produced a solid top-20 performance at Mount Juliet the weekend prior.
2022 winner Xander Schauffele was in hot form arriving here, having won the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour a little over a week before making it back-to-back successes, and 2023 winner Rory McIlroy arrived off the back of five straight top-10 finishes, including 2nd at the US Open.2024winner Robert Macintyre had won the Canadian Open the previous month, having finished 8th at the US PGA Championship a fortnight before that, whereas last year’s winner Chris Gotterup has produced a strong of solid if unspectacular efforts before taking the title:
- 2025, Chris Gotterup: MC/18/MC/18/12/15/13/28/MC/23/26/21
- 2024, Robert Macintyre: 32/MC/33/MC/8/MC/13/8/MC/1/MC/16/MC
- 2023, Rory McIlroy: 32/29/2/MC/3/MC/47/7/7/9/2/7
- 2022, Xander Schauffele: 12/35/MC/5/13/18/14/1
- 2021, Minwoo Lee: MC/MC/28/21/52/MC/42/17
- 2020, Aaron Rai: MC/21/10/44/31/44/15/2
- 2019, Bernd Wiesberger: 23/14/70/1/8/76/16/2
- 2018, Brandon Stone: 22/MC/MC/60/65/MC/MC/69
- 2017, Rafa Cabrera-Bello: MC/24/4/MC/4/42/26/MC
- 2016, Alex Noren: 50/6/9/MC/43/12/MC/8
- 2015, Rickie Fowler: 71/12/MC/9/1/30/MC/MC
- 2014, Justin Rose: 14/8/5/4/25/MC/12/1
- 2013, Phil Mickelson: MC/16/54/3/MC/2/2/MC
- 2012, JM Singh: 25/32/27/MC/7/MC/30/46
- 2011, Luke Donald: 4/2/8/4/2/1/7/45
- 2010, Edoardo Molinari: MC/17/13/MC/36/4/47/42
Event Form: The victories of Bernd Wiesberger, Brandon Stone and Rafa Cabrera-Bello flummoxed event form students with little to work with, before Aaron Rai’s win in 2020 restored some kind of order. Despite this event hopping about in terms of venue, the 6 Scottish Open winners prior to Rafa had also recorded at least one top-10 finish in this event before lifting the trophy.
The trend stops at Edoardo Molinari in 2010, however there may be something positive in terms of experience of playing in similar conditions with similar grasses in the past – indeed the Italian had finished runner-up on his last start on Scottish soil on the Challenge Tour the previous year; with regards Cabrera-Bello, he’d produced a 4th place finish at the Dunhill Links over the years and a further top-10 at Gleneagles. Even Stone, with his poor incoming form, had finished 15th at the Dunhill Links on his previous start in Scotland.
Aaron Rai had finished 9th at Gullane on his Scottish Open debut to rekindle the top-10 stat, however his previous attempt at Renaissance had ended in a missed cut. 2021 winner Minwoo Lee had recorded a 30th place finish on debut here in 2020, opening with a 66 and closing with a 69, to at least give some hint that he’d enjoy the course, whereas Xander built on his 10th place finish on debut before winning here in 2022.
Rory McIlroy’s record at the Scottish Open was fairly ordinary for a player of his quality prior to his 2023 victory, although perhaps that was more down to his preparation strategy for the Open Championship rather than anything more sinister given that his wider record in Scotland is pretty strong.
Robert Macintyre made up for his narrow defeat to Rory McIlroy here in 2023 in what was an emotional and hugely popular win the following year, whereas Chris Gotterup improved massively on his missed cut the year before when winning last year:
- 2025, Chris Gotterup: MC
- 2024, Robert Macintyre: MC/14/18/MC/2
- 2023, Rory McIlroy: MC/19/46/14/MC/34/MC
- 2022, Xander Schauffele: 10
- 2021, Minwoo Lee: 30
- 2020, Aaron Rai: 9/MC
- 2019, Bernd Wiesberger: MC/MC/31/41/51
- 2018, Brandon Stone: MC
- 2017, Rafa Cabrera-Bello: MC/MC/MC/47/MC/27/41/21
- 2016, Alex Noren: MC/38/67/67/MC/3/MC
- 2015, Rickie Fowler: 8
- 2014, Justin Rose: 37/5/MC/MC/MC/14
- 2013, Phil Mickelson: 35/MC/44/2/38/MC/58/16
- 2012, JM Singh: 37/MC/MC/43/9/MC/49/42
- 2011, Luke Donald: 5/2/4
- 2010, Edoardo Molinari: 54/MC
In total then, 13 of the past 15 Scottish Open champions had recorded a top 30 finish or thereabouts in this event prior to their victory, and we have to go all the way back to Tom Lehman’s victory at Loch Lomond in 1997 before finding a debutant who’s won at this event in its various guises and locations.
My selections are as follows: