PGA DFS Core Plays: Genesis Scottish Open
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various salary ranges for this week’s tournament. Who should you be building around? Find out below.
Let me start by saying that nobody cares about bad beat stories, but I have to vent because I’m sure some of you were right there with me on Sunday. It looked like we had one placement parlay at +1300 locked up, but Chris Kirk went two over on the easy back nine to finish T21 (we needed a top 20). On top of that, we had an outright on Brendon Todd. After writing him off when Sepp Straka was 11-under for the day, Straka doubled 18 and Todd proceeded to birdie the short par four to pull within one. He then hit his next approach shot to six feet and still had the easy par five upcoming. Unfortunately, he missed the six footer and then three-putted from 22 feet on the next hole. It was luckily a good week of DFS and I’m happy for Straka to get the win, but the John Deere Classic still left a bad taste in my mouth.
Now, we dust ourselves off and turn our attention to the Genesis Scottish Open. This is the second year that this has been a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, which is why we have such a strong field the week before the year’s final major. The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland has hosted this event each of the last four years, so we do have a decent amount of data to work with when it comes to the course. This is a Par 70 that measures 7,237 yards. It was designed by Tom Doak and is a relatively new course, as it opened in 2007.
While this isn’t a true links course (more rough and trees than most), but it does still have links characteristics. The difficult of the course hinges on the weather and based on the early forecast, we are expecting a lot of rain. This could soften up the course a bit, but it could also make the course tough if the wind is blowing 20+ MPH while it is raining. In the four editions of this event at this venue, we’ve seen two birdie-fests and two tough tests. The wind forecast seems to change every hour, so this could be a good week to build tee time stacks on both sides of the draw. For my main lineup, I’ll definitely be monitoring the wind right up to lineup lock.
The course features fairly narrow fairways at 31.5 yards wide, but the penalty for missing them has been small over the years. You don’t necessarily have to be a bomber, but strokes gained off the tee and/or total driving should come in handy at this course. The greens here are large (7,000 square feet) and feature fescue grass. In 2022, the average driving accuracy was less than 50% and the average greens in regulation rate was less than 60%. If this holds true, golfers will have plenty of opportunities to show off their short game. Golfers that have imagination around the green are certainly at an advantage this week.
Field Breakdown Video & Model Download Link for the Genesis Scottish Open
This is one of those weeks where I’m focusing a little less on statistics and more on links experience, comfortability playing in Europe, ability to play in the wind and rain, and recent form. With that said, I do like golfers that are solid in all four aspects of the strokes gained metrics.
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for the Genesis Scottish Open
Field Size:
- 156 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties move on after the first two rounds
Weather Forecasts
- Kevin Roth’s Forecast (link coming soon!)
- Windfinder
- Weather Channel
Golf Course
- The Renaissance Club
- Par 70 — 7,237 yards
- Designer: Tom Doak
- Fairway width in landing area: 31.5 yards
- Green size: 7,000 square feet
- Green type: fescue
- Water hazards: none
Course Notes
- Opened in 2007 and has hosted the last four Scottish Opens (2019-2022)
- Four winners: Xander Schauffele, Min Woo Lee, Aaron Rai, Bernd Wiesberger
- Not your typical links course in Scotland — thick rough and quite a few trees
- Like most courses here, easy in good conditions and tough in bad conditions
- Potential rain all four days and Sunday looks like it will be the windiest
- In 2022, driving accuracy was 49% and greens in regulation was 59%
What to Look For
- Strokes gained approach
- Total driving
- Strokes gained around the green
- Bogey avoidance
- Strokes gained putting
- Experience in Scotland and in wind
Core Plays
Tyrrell Hatton
DK: $9,600 — FD: $11,300
SG: OTT — 16
SG: APP — 17
SG: ATG — 47
Bogey Avoidance — 7
SG: Putting — 7
Stat Rank — 3
Noto Rating — 91.1
