After a week off for a lot of the big names, the PGA Tour jumps across the pond this week to Boston's favorite member of the United Kingdom for the Genesis Scottish Open.
I talked about it a bit last year when we reached this point of the calendar, but I love the different style of golf the Scottish and British Opens offer us. Would it be better if they played the Scottish on a true historic links track rather than the neutered Renaissance? Yes, but we take what we can get, I suppose.
Of course, we also have the ISCO Championship in Louisville this week, so here is the customary five picks for the opposite-field event: Steven Fisk, Max Homa, Ben James, Preston Stout, Davis Thompson. Not to say the ISCO doesn't matter, but that's all I'm going to say about it.
The Renaissance Club has lent itself to the bombers on Tour, with only Robert MacIntyre being the only non-traditional bomber to win in the last few years.
The rankings were able to bounce back last week thanks to Chris Gotterup taking down the John Deere (or so I'm told, I was watching Erling Haaland destroy the idea of Brazilian magic in international football). Hopefully, this begins a nice streak for us around here, so let's dive into this week's group of golfers.
Honorable Mentions: Viktor Hovland, Kurt Kitayama, David Puig, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele
9. Eugenio Chacarra
Before a missed cut last week in Germany, Eugenio Chacarra had finished in the top-25 in his previous six starts, including back-to-back wins in the Netherlands and Italy. The LIV defector has been looking for a path to the PGA Tour since leaving the failed Saudi experiment in 2024, and his play this season places him firmly in the top 10 of the Race to Dubai, giving him the best chance at achieving his goal.
He has slowly climbed the OWGR this year, and he has put up consistently strong performances on the DP World Tour. I don't see any reason why he won't contend this week.
8. Matt Fitzpatrick
The version of Matt Fitzpatrick that we have gotten this year feels like he is fulfilling all of the potential he had since he broke out with his 2013 U.S. Amateur win. A true top-five player in the world, Fitzpatrick has oscillated between good and poor play in Scotland, finishing in the top 10 twice in his four career starts. Considering his last three starts include a fourth at Travelers and a second in Canada, his form seems in a strong position to expect solid play from the Englishman.
7. Tom Kim
The last month or so has helped turn the narrative back around on Tom Kim a little bit, as he's starting to look a bit closer to his tournament-winning form. The John Deere was certainly a disappointing week for him, especially on the back of his strong U.S. Open performance. Kim's track record at the Scottish Open definitely helps his spot in the rankings here, with no finish outside of the top 20 in four career starts. It's a long shot, yes, but if Tom Kim plays well this week, then expect to see him back in the rankings for The Open Championship.
6. Alex Fitzpatrick
Making the absolute most of his opportunity, Alex Fitzpatrick has finished in the top 25 in seven of his eight starts on the PGA Tour this year, including his win with Matt at the Zurich. The poor play at the PGA Championship could have served as the ultimate heat check, but Alex came right back afterward with four straight top-25s. We could argue that Alex has been a more consistent golfer than Matt this year, and so he's going to get the nod in the rankings between the two.
5. Tyrrell Hatton
Someone who is just always lurking in big events, Tyrrell Hatton is coming off of a win in Spain and a T7 at the U.S. Open in his last couple of starts. In the last three months, DataGolf has Hatton as averaging the fourth-highest strokes gained per round in professional golf, behind only Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, and Rory McIlroy.
Yes, we can argue until we're blue in the face about how well the competition on LIV prepares golfers for big events (just ask Bryson DeChambeau), but it clearly hasn't impacted Hatton's performance all that much. He's the LIV golfer I feel the best about this week, so he's going in.
4. Rory McIlroy
The U.S. Open wasn't kind to this year's Masters champion, as Rory McIlroy put in a season-worst performance with his irons before turning in a T32 finish. The good news is that we saw a similar phenomenon with McIlroy last season, and he turned around to finish T2 in Scotland.
In three starts, McIlroy hasn't finished outside the top five at the Renaissance Club (some are calling it the Quail Hollow of Scotland). While he's been up and down this season, don't be surprised by McIlroy snapping back into form this week.
3. Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler probably should have won the Travelers, he just got unlucky with Viktor Hovland getting the same rain delay reset that J.J. Spaun did before winning the U.S. Open last year. We have now reached 13 events in a row where Scottie Scheffler has not won a golf tournament, but it is a matter of when, not if for Scheffler.
He can play well at any style of golf course, in any weather; it's really just needing to get the bounces to fall his way again. He finished T8 here last year, and I expect him to improve on that finish this week.
2. Chris Gotterup
Our defending champion this week and our most recent PGA Tour winner, Chris Gotterup exploded into the mainstream last year with a great back-to-back stretch between the Scottish and British Opens, and has now become a five-time PGA Tour champion.
With three wins this season already, a few more strong finishes should put Gotterup into strong consideration for Player of the Year honors at the end of the year. The driving and putting excellence plays right into the hands of the Renaissance Club, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Gotterup tame the course once again.
1. Wyndham Clark
He's the best player on the planet right now, and Wyndham Clark has shown no signs of slowing down. A T5 at Travelers has run it to five straight top-11 finishes for Clark, including two wins in that span.
Most importantly, even in the middle of his extreme fallow period last season, Clark came along to Scotland to finish T11, and he has never finished outside the top 25 in four starts in Scotland in his career. You could probably move around Clark and Gotterup, as the arguments for both are extremely similar, but for the sake of decision-making, I'm backing the U.S. Open champ.
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