One week before the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour will co-host the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. Located in North Berwick, Scotland, The Renaissance Club will host the event for the fifth consecutive year. Defending champ Xander Schauffele won here last year with a score of -7, the highest winning score in the event’s history. With a loaded field in preparation for next week’s Open, here is a preview of the 2023 edition of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.
The Renaissance Club
The Renaissance Club has a lot of undulation for a links course but will play similarly overall to Royal Liverpool. Playing at a par 70 and just north of 7,200 yards, there are plenty of long holes that will be playing even longer into the wind this week. There are five par-4s playing more than 475 yards, and all three par-5s are over 575 yards.
The toughest holes this week for the field last year were eight, nine, 17, and 18. Eight (par-4) and nine (par-3) produced the third and fourth most bogeys in the field last year. 17 is a tough 203-yard par-3 that leads into a brutal finishing hole. The field made an extremely low six birdies throughout the week on 18 last year, making a bogey or worse over half of the time. The 483-yard par-4 will present issues finishing rounds for the field this week.
The winning score has varied at The Renaissance Club over the years, ranging from -7 to -22. We have also seen a playoff in three of the last four years at The Genesis Scottish Open. Look for slight difficulty in adjusting for some of the PGA Tour players in the field this week, as this is the first true links-style course many of them have seen in months. With some low scores in recent weeks, look for the winning score to be around -17 this time around.
The Field
Take a look at the full field and betting odds here.
Scottie Scheffler (+750) and Rory McIlroy (+850) come in as the betting favorites. We will see 32 of the top 50 world ranked in the field this week, along with other notable past champions including Min Woo Lee (2021), Aaron Rai (2020), Rickie Fowler (2015), and Justin Rose (2014).
The majority of the field is coming off of a travel week and are looking to polish their games before heading to Royal Liverpool. However, there are three spots in next week’s Open up for grabs at the Renaissance Club. They will be awarded to the top three players on the leaderboard come Sunday who are not already exempt for next week.
Players to Watch
Matt Fitzpatrick finished T-6 here last year and lost in a playoff in 2021. He has made eight of his last nine cuts and ranks 17th in total strokes gained on tour this season. Fitzpatrick has played well here in the past and his last win came over a year ago at the RBC Heritage. Look for Fitzpatrick to be in the mix come Sunday.
Lucas Herbert missed the cut here last year, but he finished T-4 in both 2020 and 2021. He finished 15th at the Travelers a couple of weeks ago and is one of the top scramblers on tour around the green. This should give him a slight edge over the field this week. Expect Herbert to be in contention again this week on a course he has had success on in the past.
Tommy Fleetwood missed the cut at the Travelers a few weeks ago, but in June he lost in a playoff at the RBC Canadian Open and finished T-5 at the US Open. Fleetwood finished T-4 here last year and lost in a playoff to fellow Englishman Aaron Rai in 2020. He ranks seventh on tour this year in total strokes gained. Fleetwood has all of the tools and experience to get it done here this week.
Long Shots?
The 22-year-old Rasmus Hojgaard is coming off of a win last week in Denmark and has only missed one cut on the DP World Tour this season. Hojgaard’s win at the Made in Himmerland last week was his fourth career win on the DP World Tour and he currently ranks 12th in the Race to Dubai rankings. He finished T-10 last year and is swinging it well right now. Expect him to compete this week on a familiar course.
German Thomas Detry has made just three of five cuts in PGA Tour events this year, but he has been in the mix the last two years at The Renaissance Club. He lost in a playoff in 2021 and finished T-10 last year. Detry’s last start on the DP World Tour came in May, where he finished T-7 at the Soudal Open in Belgium. Look for Detry to be relevant this week.
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