In this betting preview:
Did you have Brian Campbell on your 2025 prediction card as a multiple winner in 2025? I did not. Campbell joins five others (McIlroy, Scheffler, Straka, Griffin, Fox), and if you picked all of these guys before the FedEx season started to win more than once, please send us your contact information… Read The Line is hiring! We had Grillo on our Rocket Classic card, but Brian was +35000 (350-1) to start the week in the Quad Cities. Nonetheless, he won dramatically and once again proves that regular PGA TOUR events are a great opportunity to cash a large ticket.
The Genesis Scottish Open starts my favorite two-week stretch of the season. I love early morning golf from across the Atlantic. The style of play is so entertaining, and watching the world’s best get tested differently is exceptionally entertaining. Combined with the quiet mornings at home before everyone is awake, it brings about a single focus on the screen that weekly coverage cannot copy. We’ll start our two-week sojourn in North Berwick, Scotland, at the Renaissance Club and then jump to Northern Ireland for the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Plenty on our fourth and final major next week, for now let’s fixate on the coastline along the Firth of Forth!
This preview is just that, a preview. For a complete list of my betting predictions covering the Scottish Open, placements, and H2H matchups, please go to Read The Line and subscribe.
Scottish Open 2025 best bets
Best bet to win: Collin Morikawa (+2500 on DraftKings)
We all agree Morikawa should be winning more. We also agree he must have too much going on in his competitive mind. A solid showing at the Rocket Classic, I think Collin’s game is ready to win. Morikawa is eleventh off the tee and fourth in approach in this field. A shift across the Atlantic can be like a cleanse. A proven links champion, Collin can also benefit from a new “direct” influence on the bag. I fully expect some Morikawa magic this week.
Best bet to place in the Top 10: Xander Schauffele (+270 on DraftKings)
Schauffele has a very strong track record at The Renaissance Club. The 2022 Scottish Open winner has yet to regain the form that won two majors in 2024. Schauffele’s well-rounded style was always best suited for the ground game in the United Kingdom. Xander can scramble and score, and I think a change in turf and scenery (lack of trees) is exactly what he needs to round back into form. I’m not sure if he’ll win this week, but I love him with 10 places.
Best head-to-head bet: Adam Scott over Justin Thomas (+100 on DraftKings)
I love it when I find a plus moneyline H2H bet. Thomas has not finished inside the top 60 at the Scottish Open since 2021. The hard links turf has given Thomas trouble on approach. Scott finished runner-up at the Renaissance Club last year and has been a strong links player throughout his career. Scott drives it great and can wield that broomstick effectively on the slow fescue greens. I’m grabbing Scott and the positive value at a venue where Thomas might take the weekend off.
Scottish Open 2025 betting odds
Odds courtesy of DraftKings. Showing odds of +9000 and shorter.
| Golfer | Odds |
| Scottie Scheffler | +360 |
| Rory McIlroy | +850 |
| Xander Schauffele | +1800 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +2200 |
| Collin Morikawa | +2500 |
| Robert MacIntyre | +3000 |
| Ludvig Aberg | +3000 |
| Justin Thomas | +3500 |
| Sam Burns | +4000 |
| Corey Conners | +4000 |
| Viktor Hovland | +4000 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | +4500 |
| Sepp Straka | +5000 |
| Adam Scott | +5500 |
| Ryan Fox | +6000 |
| Aaron Rai | +6000 |
| J.J. Spaun | +6000 |
| Harris English | +6000 |
| Harry Hall | +6000 |
| Taylor Pendrith | +7000 |
| Wyndham Clark | +7000 |
| Tom Kim | +7500 |
| Si Woo Kim | +7500 |
| Rasmsus Hojgaard | +7500 |
| Maverick McNealy | +7500 |
| Thomas Detry | +8000 |
| Daniel Berger | +8000 |
| Chris Gotterup | +8000 |
| Rasmus Neergard-Peterson | +8000 |
| Nick Taylor | +8000 |
| Alex Noren | +8000 |
| Max Greyserman | +8000 |
| Justin Rose | +8000 |
| Denny McCarthy | +9000 |
| Sungjae Im | +9000 |
| Byeong Hun An | +9000 |
| Brian Harman | +9000 |
| Nicolai Hojgaard | +9000 |
| Jake Knapp | +9000 |
Scottish Open 2025: Betting preview
A field of 156 players is set to take on the Renaissance Club for the seventh straight time. Born of American innovation, this Tom Doak design has given us a number of great Scottish national championships. In six years, we have watched three playoff victories followed by three one-shot wins. It doesn’t get much closer than that. Say what you want about a modern links style Doak design, the Sarvadi’s know how to party on Sundays. Who could forget the McIlroy-MacIntyre finish from two years ago, only to have Robert MacIntyre come back last year and beat Adam Scott by one stroke to win in his home country.
The Renaissance Club is a very unique piece of property. Nestled alongside some of Scotland’s legendary links, it requires weather to give these guys headaches. They have added a couple of yards to the course, but overall, it is still a par 70 measuring 7,282 yards. The Renaissance Club does have a unique scorecard; there are five par 3s, 10 par 4s, and three par 5s. Those 3s and 4s are all pretty stout when the wind is blowing. Speaking of which, any event overseas in the United Kingdom requires constant monitoring of the weather. Does anyone remember the AM-PM wave advantage at Royal Troon? The current forecast for Thursday through Sunday is quite good. Temperatures will reach highs around 70 degrees, and it looks like rain (if we get any) will be on Sunday. The wind along the coastline cannot be measured by any website, so keep that in mind.
The breeze is going to bend a little. It starts early in the week out of the west and shifts to the east on Friday. The holes at TRC run in all different directions, so this should cause a little havoc during that cut sweat on Friday. The wind caps out at approximately 16-18 mph, but again, this is the coast along the Firth of Forth. It will be a little more aggressive and especially when the guys play holes 12-15 out toward the point. Remember, for the most up-to-minute forecast, please use the link below. I started adding that three years ago because a member suggested it. A great idea, and we have put the weekly weather link in the newsletter ever since! In 2022, this event was co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR. As a preview and prep for the Open Championship, we get a signature-level field. Eight of the top 10 and 17 of the top 25 in the OWGR are here to compete for $9 million.
I also love the fact these two weeks have a full field and a cut. The top 65 and ties play the weekend and will compete for a winner’s check of $1.62 million. When it comes to picking players against the cut line, keep those DP guys in mind. Staring out, 84 players are from the TOUR and 72 from the DP. An average of 45% of the players who make the cut over the past three years have been from the European Tour! The average winner’s tournament odds since the upgrade are +2300. This event not only looks like a signature event on paper, but it plays like one. The leaderboards have been a who’s who, and I believe that trend will continue. Part of the reason for the elite Sunday final round(s) is the scoring. If the wind blows, it favors the best players to scramble and those who fare well in difficult “major-like” conditions. If the conditions are calm, it’s a birdiefest and the best players have an advantage again.
Get ready for the forty-third Scottish Open. I doubt the weather will be good all four rounds, so keep an eye on our live betting coverage and keep your mouse pointer near the real-time weather link. We have two great weeks ahead of us, and with our recent run of consistent contenders, a great chance to cash out both Sundays at lunchtime.
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Scottish Open 2025: Renaissance Club course overview
The weather dictates so much of what we will predict for the Scottish Open. With the current forecast, we expect low scoring. In benign conditions, the average winning score of this event is 18 under par. Vegas set the winning score line at 16.5 under par. I guess they believe the calm forecast! Looking at just the co-sanctioned years, approach play had the biggest influence on overall scoring. The greens are large at TRC, and players will hit well over 70% of them, even from the fescue. To separate, players need to narrow their proximity and knock it close. Even when Xander won at seven under par in 2022, he still made 18 sub-par scores. Bobby Mac and Rory averaged 22.5 under par totals. You must create birdie chances, and focusing on the best iron players will be where to start. We can refine the skill set more in a minute, but an accurate iron game from 175-225 yards is essential.
The Renaissance Club has a large number of approach shots under 75 yards. An odd feature, players that can scramble play well here. Min Woo Lee, Xander are two of the best with a wedge from close range on TOUR. It is important to note this feature because if you select lineups and bets based upon this player characteristic, you’ll fare well. General ARG play is great, but the contenders hit so many greens, if you are chipping and pitching to save par in calm conditions, you are going to get lapped by the field. Scoring comes down to those short wedges and great putting. This is a Doak design, and the greens are less than 20 years old. If a player can putt on fescue, they will have an advantage. Some PGA TOUR players just can’t adjust to the slower speeds. It tends to help average putters score better. We’ll get into a deeper conversation about that next week.
Handle the long approach putts, make your five-footers, convert about a third of your birdie looks, and you’ll be right there on the leaderboard. With a dearth of analytic data, I use leaderboards and scorecards. The contenders all take advantage of the par 5s. They differentiate on the 4s and survive the 3s. One of the hardest par 3s is the 147-yard sixth hole. One good swing and you get a simple par, one bad swing and a double bogey is staring you in the face. The last three winners have gained an average of nearly six strokes on the field across the 4s. Six of them are over 450 yards and will present a medium test in reasonable wind. The eighteenth hole is a test in any condition, especially when you consider how close every edition of this event has been at the end.
The 2020 Scottish Open, won by Aaron Rai, was played in October. It was moved due to COVID-19. The remaining five were all played in the summer, and four of those five were birdie-laden. Scoring ability is important at this event. All exposed coastline courses have a difficult design challenge. If you make them too hard when it’s calm, they become impossible when it blows. Make them fair under difficult weather conditions, and they become too easy under calm seas. That’s the case with TRC. This is a phenomenal course, but bring in the world’s very best players, and there’s nothing you can do. These are the guys who create new scoring records almost every week on TOUR. The modern game has two baseline skills: speed and scoring. With our forecast, you’d better score this week.
Speed has proven extremely valuable at the Sarvadi show. In case you are wondering who the Sarvadi’s are? Jerry Sarvadi is the CEO of TRC. His family built the facility. If you have a minute and want to enjoy some 2022 RTL content, I interviewed Jerry three years ago as a preview for this event. Just a quick look at the past champions and you see the speed effect. Min Woo, Xander, and Rory can all send it. The fairways aren’t super wide, but again, they cannot be too narrow if it gets windy. So bombers have an advantage. Miss those fairway bunkers and create more realistic scoring chances. Avoiding those fairway bunkers is a must. Players who approach from the fairway hit a ton (70%+) of their GIRs. Players who play from the fairway bunkers hit less than 20%! I weighted strokes gained OTT pretty heavily in my research because it favors length and measures accuracy.
That’s our archetype player for this AM run of tournament rounds. Break out the layers and let’s get at it. I cannot wait for the golf to start tomorrow. Thank goodness it starts five hours earlier than usual. Set your alarms and enjoy the morning magic.
Read The Line is the leading golf betting insights service led by 5-time award-winning PGA Professional Keith Stewart. Read The Line has 40 outright wins and covers the TGL, LPGA, and PGA TOUR, raising your golf betting acumen week after week. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
