GOLF
Who is playing in the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open field? Top players and predictions
We take a look at the favourites for victory at this week’s Scottish Open, held at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
Ahead of the fourth major of the season, a number of the world’s top-ranked golfers are in action this week at the Genesis Scottish Open, which is being held for the sixth straight year at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
Can McIlroy win back-to-back Scottish Opens?
Rory McIlroy will defend his title at the Scottish Open, an event co-sanctioned between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. The field also includes PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele, who was victorious at the Scottish Open in 2022, and fellow top-10 players Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa and Victor Hovland.
Aside from McIlroy and Schauffele, the field features former Scottish Open winners in the shape of Min Woo Lee, Aaron Rai, Bernd Wiesberger, Alex Noren, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Luke Donald.
Who are the favourites to win the Genesis Scottish Open?
McIlroy, whose wait for a fifth career major goes on after he was pipped to the US Open trophy in June, is the bookmakers’ favourite to retain his title in North Berwick. The world No. 2 is rated at +750 for victory, just ahead of No. 3 Schauffele, who is priced at +800. Morikawa and Aberg are the bookies’ joint-third favourites, on +1400. Hovland is valued at +2200, just behind world No. 11 Tommy Fleetwood, who was runner-up at the Scottish Open in 2020.
Rai, Harman, MacIntyre among experts’ picks
Fleetwood aside, the non-top 10 players who are being tipped for success this weekend include his fellow Englishman Rai, who has posted high finishes at his last two events. Still chasing his first triumph on the PGA Tour - the Scottish Open was only a European Tour event when he won it four years ago - Rai placed second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic late last month, before coming seventh at the John Deere Classic last week. “He prevailed at the Renaissance Club in 2020, but his form upon arrival is most inspiring,” the golf analyst Rob Bolton writes of Rai in his PGA Tour Power Rankings. “Four straight top 20s with top 10s in the last two.”
Also among Bolton’s picks for the Scottish Open are the likes of South Korea’s Tom Kim, defending Open champion Brian Harman, and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who was runner-up at the Scottish Open last year and was the RBC Canadian Open winner in June.
Meanwhile, Oddschecker expert Andy Lack says that Clark, who is priced back at +5000, may represent a good bet. “The former US Open champion is once again trending in the right direction,” Lack says, adding: “I would not be the least bit surprised to see Clark notch his second victory of the season at the Renaissance Club.” Lack names Hovland as his other pick for the Scottish Open, declaring: “The young Norwegian is primed for a strong close to the season.”
2024 Genesis Scottish Open: dates, how to watch
The Genesis Scottish Open will be played at the Renaissance Club from Thursday July 11 to Sunday July 14, 2024. Viewers in the United States will be able to watch the event on CBS, the Golf Channel and ESPN+.
The tournament will be followed next week by the 2024 Open Championship, the final major of the golf season, which gets going at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, on Thursday July 18.
What is the prize purse at the Genesis Scottish Open?
There will be a $9 million total prize purse at the Scottish Open. The winner will receive a cheque for just under $1.58 million, while the runner-up is in line for a payout of just over $985,000. The third-placed finisher stands to pocket around $590,000.