Genesis Scottish Open: PGA Best Weekend Picks (2024)

by Matthew MacKay |
Jul 13, 2024

The Genesis Scottish Open is the first of two events held in Scotland on the PGA Tour schedule, co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.

On Friday, the sun was shining and the coastal winds stirred up, as golfers contended with the conditions and undulating fairways to make a cut line that was 3-under-par. Defending champion Rory McIlroy has carded rounds of 5-under-par and 4-under-par to occupy T5 on the leaderboard, while Ludvig Åberg’s bogey-free Round 2 catapulted the Swede to the solo lead at 12-under-par.

Other notable names in contention ahead of Saturday’s third round include Sungjae Im, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, and Robert MacIntyre. In this article, I’ve found several golfers to bet in the outright winner market ahead of Round 3. Good luck if tailing and remember to place your wagers before the first tee times start at 4:15 a.m. ET time on Saturday morning.

Genesis Scottish Open: Best Weekend Picks

These plays are 1 unit and 0.50 units. Or one percent and half a percent of your betting bankroll. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Rory McIlroy (+550)

History is not on Rory McIlroy’s side when it comes to title defense at this event, but Northern Ireland’s star golfer won during his debut here in 2023. He’s in top-form right now and would be sitting alongside Åberg for the outright lead if his putter wasn’t misfiring on several close attempts.

We’re banking on McIlroy to get his putter unlocked over the weekend, which is all he needs to do to contend. Ranked seventh strokes gained: off-the-tee and third SG: around the green, his powerful driver and scrambling ability make him a solid value at +550, sitting only three strokes off the lead. Let’s stake a unit on McIlroy to contend for the outright win and successfully defend his title.

Collin Morikawa (+900)

Collin Morikawa has been playing great golf the last three months, recording nine consecutive T25 finishes, including three top-five finishes and a runner-up, the Californian has the most accurate driver on the PGA Tour.

He didn’t compete in this event last year and missed the cut in 2022, so we’re heading into uncharted waters with Morikawa sitting T5 ahead of Round 3. Morikawa ranks second in total birdies this week (13), third strokes gained on approach, first in putts per GIR, and 11th in total feet of putts made.

Now that the putter is cooperating, normally Morikawa’s weakest club in the bag, a one unit wager at 9-1 odds is sufficient.

Rasmus Højgaard (+2800)

Despite his brother getting most of the spotlight leading up to this event, Rasmus Højgaard ripped off a strong 7-under-par outing in Round 3 to surge 65 spots up the leaderboard into T5 ahead of Round 3.

Højgaard ranks 21st SG: off-the-tee, fourth SG: around the green, first in scrambling, and top-25 in both driving accuracy and driving distance. He’s also recorded only one bogey, which makes it encouraging to back a golfer prone to few miscues. At 28-1 odds, a 0.50 unit wager yields 14 units of profit for us, so let’s jump on Højgaard’s current price while it’s available.

Robert MacIntyre (+3300)

Crowd favorite and native Scotsman, Robert MacIntyre, recorded a bogey-free Round 2, while draining five birdies to climb into T11 on the leaderboard. MacIntyre broke through with his first PGA Tour win at the RBC Canadian Open last month, but lately, he’s been a bit shaky with his game.

After going 3-under-par in Round 1, MacIntyre bounced back by scoring lower than McIlroy in his pairing on Friday. Last year, MacIntyre finished red-hot on Sunday, going 6-under-par but falling one stroke shy of tying McIlroy to force a playoff. It feels like we could see MacIntyre back in contention again this weekend, especially since he’s ranked 32nd SG: approach, 23rd SG: putting, and 13th in scrambling.

Let’s stake one more half unit wager on MacIntyre at 33-1 as he attempts to avenge his runner-up finish a year ago.

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Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for BettingPros & FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.

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