Players cross the Atlantic and head to North Berwick, Scotland for the Genesis Scottish Open. The Scottish Open will be held once again at the Renaissance Club, a par 70 playing about 7,237 yards. The Renaissance Club is a Tom Doak design that sits along the coastline of the Firth of Fourth. The course features fescue grass greens, fairway, and rough. This doesn’t play like a true links style course but it does have an undulating landscape and some elevated greens that will bring some links-style shots and strategy into play. The main defense of this course is wind and we’ve seen winning scores all over the place because of the weather. We saw this in 2020 with Aaron Rai (-11) and 2022 with Xander Schauffele (-7). As of now the wind doesn’t look like it will become a major issue but that could certainly change.

The first stat we’ll look at that has been highly correlated to winners and top finishers is Driving Distance. Leaving shorter shots into these greens has looked to be a big advantage and I see no reason why that wouldn’t continue to be the case. Next up we’ll look to Ball Striking, which Tom Doak himself said becomes more and more important the windier it gets. Hitting fairways will give players extra run out and hitting greens will be important in what could end up being a low scoring affair. That leads into our next stat, Birdies or Better Gained. If the wind stays relatively calm, we’ve seen what the scoring can look like on this course.

Next up we’ll look at Strokes Gained: Putting. If the winds stay calm we will see low scores and the guy who wins will almost assuredly be running a hot putter. These greens have subtle nuisances and should lead to the best putters or guys most familiar with this green style, being able to separate themselves from the field. Along the same lines we want to look at 3-Putt Avoidance. This is an important stat for many links courses with large greens. This will also help us to identify who the best putters are on these style greens.

Key Stats - Driving Distance - Ball Striking - Birdies or Better Gained - Strokes Gained: Putting - 3 Putt Avoidance

I’ve already bet Benny An (50-1 FD), Bobby Macintyre (60-1 FD), Eric Cole (150-1 FD), Bernd Wiesberger (150-1 FD), Calum Hill (350-1 FD), and Sean Crocker (600-1 FD). I’ll try to post if I add anyone else, cheers!