Genesis Scottish Open
Purse: $9M
Winner's Share: $1.575M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: North Berwick, Scotland
Course: The Renaissance Club
Yardage: 7,282
Par: 70
Previous Winners
2025 - Chris Gotterup (-15)
2024 - Robert MacIntyre (-18)
2023 - Rory McIlroy (-15)
2022 - Xander Schauffele (-7)
2021 - Min Woo Lee (-18)
2020 - Aaron Rai (-11)
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger (-22)
2018 - Brandon Stone (-20)
2017 - Rafa Cabrera-Bello (-13)
2016 - Alex Noren (-14)
2015 - Rickie Fowler (-12)
Recap: Gotterup rallies for third win of 2026
Several of the top-ranked players skipped the John Deere Classic, which wasn't surprising as the event is smack dab in the middle of the U.S. Open and The Open Championship while also following the last Signature Event of the season, the Travelers Championship. That set the stage for players to gain crucial points toward the FedExCup Standings, and TPC Deere Run saw the likes of Lucas Glover and Lee Hodges share time at the top of the leaderboard, while 2012 champion Zach Johnson turned in a vintage performance to finish T6. However, Sunday afternoon came down to a duel between Chris Gotterup and Ben Kohles.
Kohles used a five-under front nine to leapfrog Glover and Hodges to the top of the standings at 20-under, and he was on a mission to join rare company in winning both a Korn Ferry tournament and PGA Tour event in the same season. He couldn't extend his cushion on the back nine, however, which gave the rallying Gotterup the opportunity to tie Kohles at the top. While Gotterup stayed warm on the driving range, it looked like he and Kohles were headed for a playoff, only for Kohles to find the water with his second shot on the 18th hole. That appeared to rattle Kohles, who went on to three-putt for double bogey to drop down to a share of third, with Gotterup standing tall next to his brother Patrick, who was serving as Chris' caddie for the tournament. Gotterup now has three PGA Tour victories this season with The Sony Open, the WM Phoenix Open and the John Deere Classic, and he is tied with Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick for the most PGA wins in 2026.
Elsewhere, Max Homa used a strong final round of his own (seven-under 64) to finish solo second, while Glover and Hodges joined Kohles at 18-under to round out the top-5. Ryo Hisatsune snuck his way to a T9 finish for his first top-10 since early April, and 19-year-old phenom Ben Brown recorded yet another top-15 finish on the PGA Tour as he looks to earn permanent membership for 2027. Other notable finishes include Rickie Fowler (T15), Ben Griffin (T21), Jacob Bridgeman (T26), Pierceson Coody (T39), Eric Cole (T39), J.T. Poston (T51), Keith Mitchell (T51), Jordan Spieth (T58) and Sungjae Im (T79). Notable players who missed the cut include Daniel Berger, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Michael Kim, Michael Thorbjornsen and Johnny Keefer.
Preview: Genesis Scottish Open
Golf's oldest major is just two weeks away, and most of the players who will tee off at Royal Birkdale will use the Scottish Open as a way to adjust to both the time zone and the links-style courses of the United Kingdom. World Nos. 1 and 2, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, will headline the field at the Renaissance Club this week, along with defending champion Gotterup, 2024 winner and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, Russell Henley, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai, Tommy Fleetwood, J.J. Spaun, Brooks Koepka and brothers Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick. A noticeable absence from that list is Cameron Young, who is third in the FedExCup Standings behind Scheffler and the older Fitzpatrick brother, Matt.
The Scottish Open is unique in that it is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, so the very best players in the PGA will be joined by multi-time DP World winners like Jayden Schaper, Casey Jarvis and Eugenio Chaccara. Perhaps the most notable player from the DP World Tour is Patrick Reed, who left LIV Golf in the offseason and sits atop the Race to Dubai Rankings thanks to victories at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters.
Speaking of LIV, there will be a few players from the breakaway tour who will use the Scottish Open as a tune-up for The Open. The biggest name from the LIV Golf contingent is Jon Rahm, who opted to pay off his outstanding fines to the DP World Tour, making him eligible to compete for the European team in the Ryder Cup in 2027. He'll be joined by Legion XIII teammates Tom McKibbin and Tyrrell Hatton, the latter of whom has arguably been the most successful LIV Golf player at the majors this season, having finished third at The Masters and seventh at the U.S. Open. Adrian Meronk, Laurie Canter, David Puig and Victor Perez will all join the Legion XIII trio of Rahm, Hatton and McKibbin at Renaissance Club.
Onto the course itself, The Renaissance Club, which will be more forgiving than Royal Birkdale figures to be in two weeks (Jordan Spieth won The Open in 2017 with a 12-under score, though only four other players scored five-under or lower at Birkdale). The fairways at Renaissance are wide, as is the case with most links courses, but players will need to be vigilant to avoid the thick fescue, deep bunkers and coastal water that can turn a dream round into a nightmare in a blink of an eye.
In last year's Scottish Open, Gotterup ranked fourth in both SG: Putting and SG: Off-the-Tee, and that's despite the fact that he connected on only 22 of 52 fairways (42.31 percent), tied for 60th out of the 79 players who made the cut. He also ranked T4 in scrambling and ninth in SG: Around-the-Green. Putting was particularly important last year, with each of the top-5 players on the leaderboard ranking at least 12th in that particular strokes gained category. Interestingly, SG: Approach didn't seem to factor in as much as you'd expect, so getting yourself out of trouble and converting on the green seem to be the factors that matter the most at Renaissance (at least, if we're going by last year's numbers).
Underdog Contest Overview
Underdog hosts drafts every week at three buy-in amounts; The Par 3 at $3, the featured draft at $10, and "The Sandbagger" at $100. Each entrant will be paired up with five other participants and participate in a six-man snake draft of teams made up of six players (36 total selections), with each selection on a 30-second timer. For example, the person with the first overall pick and lucky enough to get Scheffler (unless you like to live dangerously) will have to wait until 2.6 and 3.1 to make their next selections. Points are allocated to golfers based on their performance on every hole, with bonus points available for golfers who make consecutive birdies or finish a round bogey free.
First Two Rounds
Matt Fitzpatrick (4.1 ADP)
It's no surprise that the top-3 players by ADP are Scheffler (1.1), McIlroy (2.2) and Rahm (3.3). Scheffler and McIlroy have been excellent at the Scottish Open in previous years, and Rahm will have a lot to prove in a non-major with a more talented field than what he's used to in LIV. However, it's hard to ignore the kind of season Fitzpatrick is having; he's tied with Gotterup with three PGA Tour victories along with top-5 finishes at THE PLAYERS, the RBC Canadian Open and the Travelers. He's enjoyed his own success at Renaissance Club, having finished T4 last year and T6 in 2022. Fitzpatrick leads the PGA Tour in SG: Around-the-Green and is second in SG: Total, Tee-to-Green and Approach.
Tommy Fleetwood (6.4 ADP)
Although he finished outside the top-30 in each of the last two Scottish Open events, Fleetwood proceeded those results with finishes of T4 in 2022 and T6 in 2023. He's finished in the top-15 in five of his last six tournaments, including T5 at the Truist, T4 at the Memorial Tournament and T11 at the U.S. Open. Fleetwood has the game to succeed at Renaissance, ranking in the top-5 in scrambling and both SG: Around and Tee-to-Green and 21st in SG: Off-the-Tee (19th in total driving, sixth in driving accuracy).
Wyndham Clark (8.2 ADP)
Clark is in the best form of his PGA Career with top-5 finishes at the Travelers Championship and the Memorial Tournament and victories at THE CJ CUP and, most importantly, the U.S. Open. He's not going to wow you off the tee (91st in SG: Off-the-Tee, including 83rd in driving accuracy), but he ranks in the top-25 in SG: Tee-to-Green, Around, Approach and Putting. Clark's performance on and around the green are what has propelled his recent success; he led all players in SG: Putting at the Travelers and led the field at the Memorial in SG: Around.
Chris Gotterup (9.7 ADP)
No player has successfully defended their Scottish Open title, and it will be hard for Gotterup to do just that in such a stacked field. However, the sails are blowing in the American's favor heading into Scotland after rallying with a Sunday 62 to win the John Deere Classic, when he led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee while gaining 3.49 strokes with his putter in the final round. A strong performance at Renaissance would tab Gotterup as one of the top picks heading into The Open Championship.
Also consider: Xander Schauffele (5.4 ADP -- won the Scottish Open in 2022 and finished T15 and T8 in 2024 and 2025, respectively), Viktor Hovland (11.0 ADP -- coming off a playoff victory over Scheffler at the Travelers Championship)
Middle-Round Value
Alex Fitzpatrick (14.8 ADP)
Fitzpatrick spent the first few months of the season on the DP World Tour, winning the Hero Indian Open one week after his brother, Matt, won the Valspar Championship. The Fitzpatrick brothers came together to win the Zurich Classic, earning Alex PGA membership through 2027, and the younger Fitzpatrick brother has made the most of it with top-10 finishes in three Signature Events, along with a T23 at the U.S. Open. This version of Fitzpatrick is more confident than the one that missed the cut in each of the last two years at the Scottish Open.
Kurt Kitayama (17.5 ADP)
Kitayama has been solid over the past three months, logging six top-25s over his last seven tournaments, including T10 at the PGA Championship and top-10 finishes at the RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship. He ranks third in total driving, fourth in both SG: Approach and GIR and 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee (19th in driving distance and 41st in accuracy). He also ranks 40th in sand save percentage, which will be useful should he find himself in one of those deep bunkers scattered throughout the course.
Justin Thomas (18.9 ADP)
I'm still concerned about Jake Knapp's (19.4 ADP) thumb injury that kept him out of action for two months, and has since missed the cut in the U.S. Open while finishing T55 at the Travelers. Thomas, meanwhile, has finished in the top-25 in each of his last seven tournaments, including T4 at the PGA Championship, T17 at the U.S. open and T14 two weeks ago at the Travelers. He's one of the best wedge players in the game, ranking second in SG: Around this season as well as 19th in total driving and 22nd in SG: Tee-to-Green. Thomas finished T22 in last year's Scottish Open, which would be a solid result given his ADP.
Aaron Rai (25.2 ADP)
Perhaps a bit of a reach given his ADP, but I like grabbing Rai here as opposed to other options like Shane Lowry (22.8 ADP). Rai followed up his career-defining victory at the PGA Championship with a T11 at the U.S. Open and a T30 two weeks ago at the Travelers. He ranks in the top-30 in SG: Tee-to-Green and Approach and 45th in SG: Around, as well as second in driving accuracy and 11th in GIR.
Also consider: Tyrrell Hatton (15.9 ADP -- followed up a victory at LIV Golf Andalucia with a T7 at the U.S. Open. Also finished T3 at The Masters in April), Patrick Reed (21.5 ADP -- has cooled off since his two DP World Tour wins and top-12 finishes at The Masters and PGA Championship, but his short game should get him out of sticky situations at Renaissance Club).
Late-Round Targets
Min Woo Lee (27.6 ADP)
Lee has finished MC-MC-T62 over his last three tournaments but has the tools to succeed at Renaissance Club. He ranks 12th in SG: Off-the-Tee this season (sixth in total driving, eighth in driving distance) as well as 27th in SG: Around. It's been a bit of an up-and-down season for the Australian, but this week is a chance for Lee to build some momentum for The Open.
Sahith Theegala (34.3 ADP)
Theegala has been a grinder this season, making the cut in 19 of 20 tournaments with nine top-25s and four top-10s, with a T11 at the U.S. Open being his most notable recent finish. The last time he teed off at the Scottish Open was in 2024, when he finished T4. Theegala is one of the best short-game players on Tour, ranking 10th in SG: Around.
Eugenio Chacarra (35.4 ADP)
Chacarra secured the European Swing on the DP World Tour thanks to back-to-back victories at the KLM Open and Open d'Italia. He also finished as the runner-up to Alex Fitzpatrick at the Hero Indian Open in late March. Chacarra is third in the Race to Dubai Rankings and is well on his way to earning a PGA Tour membership for 2027.
David Puig (35.6 ADP)
Puig is eighth in the LIV Golf individual standings thanks to five top-10s in nine tournaments, including solo second in Mexico City and, most recently, T5 in Andalucia. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open but finished T18 at the PGA Championship.
Daniel Hillier (36.0 ADP)
Other DP World Tour players will be taken as long-shots late in the sixth round, including two-time winners Chacarra, Jayden Schaper and Casey Jarvis, along with other options like Oliver Lindell and Bernd Wiesberger. However, I'll highlight Hillier here, with the Kiwi securing five top-10s and three top-5s on the DP World Tour this season. He ranks seventh in SG: Total, including fifth in both GIR and SG: Off-the-Tee (18th and 20th in driving distance and accuracy, respectively), 10th in SG: Approach and 11th in SG: Putting.
Also consider: Aldrich Potgieter (35.9 ADP -- finished T8 at the Canadian Open, leads the PGA Tour in driving distance while ranking fifth in SG: Off-the-Tee), Jayden Schaper (36.0 ADP -- ranks fourth in SG: Total on the DP World Tour and is in the top-20 in SG: Off-the-Tee, Tee-to-Green, Approach and Putting).
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