2024 Scottish Open Picks & Predictions

For the first time since the U.S. Open in mid-June, the face of golf will tee it up at The Renaissance Club this week to defend his Scottish Open title.

McIlroy, who missed two par putts of 4 feet or less in the final three holes at Pinehurst No. 2, including what might have put him in at least a playoff on the 72nd hole, hasn’t played competitively since.

Collapsing down the stretch with a 1-shot lead heading into 16 on Sunday was perhaps the biggest heartbreaking letdown of his career, as McIlroy was trying to win his first major championship in 10 years. Instead, he lost the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau that Father’s Day evening in North Carolina.

Now, McIlroy is back in Scotland where in 2023 he actually birdied the final two holes to win in a thrilling finish.

The second-ranked golfer in the world is hoping that same magic returns in Scotland, as there’s never been a back-to-back champion in the 52-year history of the tournament.

McIlroy heads into Thursday’s first round at the par-70, 7,237-yard Tom Doak course, nestled between iconic Open Championship courses North Berwick and Muirfield, as the favorite to repeat, sitting at +700.

Not far behind is this year’s PGA Champion and the No. 3-ranked golfer in the world Xander Schauffele at +800.

Those two will be joined by eight other top-15 golfers in the world and more than 70 PGA Tour pros this week at The Renaissance Club, as the British Open will follow next week at Royal Troon.

FrontPageBets takes a look at the golfers to watch in this week’s Genesis Scottish Open.

Perhaps one of the most competitive golfers on Tour, you can bet McIlroy has spent the past month replaying the final three holes of the U.S. Open over and over again in his head, waiting for a chance to redeem himself.

And if anyone can – and should – it’s McIlroy.

Sure, the 26-time PGA Tour winner and four-time major champion hasn’t won a major in a decade. But he has finished runner-up four times in majors since 2018 and has 18 top-5 finishes since 2015, including finishing inside the top 8 in all four majors of 2022.

He rebounded from missing the cut in the 2023 Masters with a T7 at the PGA Championship that season, then followed up with second at the U.S. Open and a T6 at the Open Championship.

The last four U.S. Opens he’s played, his worst finish was T8 in 2021.

Last year was his first visit to The Renaissance Club, where he won with that spectacular birdie-birdie finish in the final round, which came off a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open.

Turning pro just last year, the 24-year-old Aberg is already ranked No. 6 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

And it’s no surprise, since the young Swede has game.

In 14 starts this season, Aberg has 10 top-25 finishes, including six top-10s, two of which he finished second.

Oh, and those runner-up finishes were at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Masters. By the way, this year’s Masters was the first-ever major for Aberg.

After missing the cut at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in May, he went on to finish T12 at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

Aberg game is solid all the way round, as he’s eighth in Strokes Gained: Total (1.236) and ninth in SG: Approach to Green (0.587). He’s also third in total driving.

Last year, Aberg missed the cut in his first Scottish Open appearance.

While Rai is still looking for his first PGA Tour win, he’s not far off.

In four of his last eight starts, the 29-year-old Englishman hasn’t finished outside the top 15, including a T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks ago in Detroit and a T7 outing last week at the John Deere Classic.

In those last two tournaments, Rai, who is No. 53 in the OWGR, is a combined 38-under par, with two rounds of 65 and one 63 sprinkled in.

Rai is currently fifth on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Total (1.316) and seventh in Strokes Gained: Approach to Green (0.696).

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