It was a good week for the column, certainly making for a few fireworks over the Fourth of July holiday — despite managing to find yet another way to narrowly miss out on the outright winner.
We had a number of long shots fare quite nicely at the John Deere Classic. Ben Kohles (80-1), Ryo Hisatsune (50-1), Kevin Yu (80-1) and Tyler Duncan (500-1) each made a lot of noise, but ultimately it was Chris Gotterup winning for the third time on Tour this season. And that makes for a very clean transition to this week as we make our way abroad to North Berwick, Scotland, for the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club — where Gotterup is your defending champion.
The Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, and each tour roughly has 75 players in the field. A twist this year is that there are LIV circuit players participating via DP World Tour status. Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Patrick Reed, David Puig, Victor Perez and Tom McKibben will join in on the festivities in what will be the final prep before next week’s Open Championship, the final major of the season, at Royal Birkdale in England.
Tom Doak designed the Renaissance Club in 2008. It is definitely links style but is more of a manufactured, Americanized links design. The course was carved out of a pine forest, which is unique, but it still maintains the sandy, dunes, windswept links look in which we are familiar. The Renaissance Club will serve as the host course for this tournament for the eighth year in a row. It is a par-70 with three par-5s, five par-3s, and 10 par-4s. The golf course tips out at just a shade under 7,300 yards. The greens are slow and fescue-based just like we typically see at an Open Championship. They are large surfaces and relatively easy to hit in regulation. The fairways are on the wider side but present nasty pot bunkers and are bordered by thick rough.
I do believe that distance outweighs accuracy here off the tee — to a degree — so I have looked at Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, along with Stroked Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Around the Green, Birdies or Better Gained, and hole proximity from 200-plus yards.
The subject of correlated courses is a challenge this week because we do not see a links-type test on a regular basis. Courses requiring similar strengths and sharing some layout commonalities are the Country Club at Jackson (Sanderson Farms Championship); Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance Open); Memorial Park (Houston Open), which is another Tom Doak design; and Vidanta Vallarta, home to the Mexico Open.
Ludvig Aberg (22-1)
Maybe Aberg’s greatest strength is his ability to drive the ball long and straight. This propelled him to victory at Torrey Pines and has helped him finish eighth and fourth here in North Berwick. Over the past 24 rounds, Aberg ranks 11th n this field for SG: Off the Tee, 14th for SG: Approach, and eighth in hole proximity from 200-plus yards.
Nicolai Hojgaard (45-1)
Similar to Aberg, Hojgaard has finished runner-up at Torrey Pines and fourth and sixth here at the Scottish Open — and his game too is largely fueled by excellent work off the tee. The short game fires as well as he ranks 55th on Tour in scrambling and is 51st for SG: Putting.
Kristoffer Reitan (53-1)
The European theme continues — and why not a Norwegian? We have seen their fans celebrate Viktor Hovland recently at the Travelers Championship, and we have seen their football club knock Brazil out of the World Cup. Reitan is becoming a force, winning a Signature Event back in May at Quail Hollow Club, a big boy golf course, similar to Torrey Pines. He was 13th here in Scotland last season, shooting three of four rounds in the 60s. Reitan ranks seventh in this field for SG: Off the Tee over the past 24-rounds, 16th for SG: Approach and 15th in birdies or better percentage.
Kevin Yu (225-1)
As mentioned earlier, Yu fared quite well last week at the John Deere Classic, finishing 15th and shooting 66 on three of the four days. He won for us a few years back at the Sanderson Farms Championship and he was 34th here at the Scottish Open last year. Over the past 24 rounds, Yu ranks 14th in this field for SG: Off the Tee and is fifth for birdie or better percentage. At the Deere last week, Yu ranked 20th in that field for SG: Putting. He will be in the mix again this week if the putter stays hot.
