2022 Genesis Scottish Open: Latest Betting Odds, Favorites and Sleeper Picks for The Renaissance Club

The best in the world arrive in Scotland a week early to fine-tune their games before the historic 150th Open at St. Andrews.

No matter the competition, consistently beating a full field of professional golfers for four straight days is extremely impressive.

J.T. Poston did just that last week to notch his second win on the PGA Tour and make him only the third wire-to-wire winner at the John Deere Classic.

As for the picks, favorite Nick Hardy played well, but only well enough for a T30 and midrange pick Chez Reavie missed the cut. However, it was sleeper Chris Gotterup who stole many headlines with his T4 finish as he continues to rise in his early career.

We’d normally be heading over to Kentucky for the Barbasol Championship this week, but because of the new strategic alliance between the PGA and DP World Tours, there are more FedEx Cup points on the line overseas. So we fly to the United Kingdom a week early for the Genesis Scottish Open where 14 of the top 15 players in the world will be competing at The Renaissance Club in a tuneup for The Open at St. Andrews. At just 7,300 yards, the par-71 layout will favor strong iron players and if the weather remains dry, the scores should be low.

According to SI Sportsbook, the favorites are two-time Irish Open winner Jon Rahm and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at +1100. Right behind is PGA champion Justin Thomas at +1200. To close out the notables are the U.S. Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick and Travelers Championship winner Xander Schauffele at +1800.

For a favorite, we mentioned ball-strikers, so we’re going with the value in Will Zalatoris at +2500. Zalatoris has had one of the best campaigns on Tour this season without a win. All the top 10s, top 5s and excruciating playoff losses have not derailed the young star, as always comes back even stronger. This will be his first start since his most recent tough result at the U.S. Open, but he comes back to a place where he finished 26th last year in not nearly the same current form. On the season, Zalatoris ranks second in strokes gained: tee-to-green and first in strokes gained: approach, which will be exactly the recipe for success this week.

For a high midrange pick, we’re going with a guy who always seems to take his game to another level on the links in Jordan Spieth at +3000. The former Open champion has fallen in love with the style of play during his career and as seen most recently in a warm-up trip at Lahinch. In his last four trips to The Open, he’s recorded three top-10s including his runner-up to Morikawa last year. On the year, Spieth has returned to form with two top 20s, three top 7s and one win at the RBC Heritage. He missed the cut at his most recent start at the Travelers, but that allowed him to return to his happy place more quickly as he prepares to create more history across the pond.

For a light sleeper, we’re playing it safer this week and looking to Aaron Rai at +6000. Rai will be up against a much tougher field this week, but the Englishman will be confident heading back to the site of the most monumental win of his career in 2020. Since the beginning of 2022, Rai has only missed four cuts in 17 starts and in those finishes, he owns a T6 at the Farmers Insurance Open, T4 at the Zurich Classic and a T13 at the recent RBC Canadian Open. Rai also ranks in the top 25 in driving accuracy and greens in regulation, which will be paramount for success once again at The Renaissance Club.

2021-22 picks scoreboard:

Events: 33
Winners: 4
Top 5s: 10
Top 10s: 5
Top 20s: 3

Here are some notable odds, according to SI Sportsbook:

Jon Rahm +1100
Scottie Scheffler +1100
Justin Thomas +1200
Xander Schauffele +1800
Matt Fitzpatrick +1800
Patrick Cantlay +2200
Will Zalatoris +2500
Cameron Smith +2800
Collin Morikawa +2800
Sam Burns +3000
Jordan Spieth +3000
Hideki Matsuyama +3000
Viktor Hovland +3300
Sungjae Im +4000
Joaquin Niemann +4000
Ryan Fox +4000
Tommy Fleetwood +4000
Max Homa +5000
Billy Horschel +5000
Corey Conners +5000
Cameron Young +5000
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Justin Rose +5500
Keegan Bradley +5500
Lucas Herbert +5500
Aaron Rai +6000
Mito Pereira +6600
Adrian Meronk +6600
Keith Mitchell +6600
Robert Macintyre +6600
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +7000
Harold Varner +7000
Brian Harman +8000
Alex Noren +8000
Gary Woodland +8000
Justin Harding +8000
Marc Leishman +8000
Maverick McNealy +8000
Sebastian Munoz +8000
Chris Kirk +9000
Matt Kuchar +9000
Haotong Li +10000
Ian Poulter +10000