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The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
The Field
The PGA TOUR heads over to Scotland this week for a unique test. As part of the alliance between the PGA TOUR and the DP WORLD TOUR (formally the European Tour), the Scottish Open has become an official part of the PGA TOUR’s schedule and this year will mark the third year in a row that it has been played as an official PGA TOUR event. This co-sanctioned tournament will again feature the top 75 players, from each TOUR, with a few special exemptions mixed in to make up a field of 156 golfers.
With the Open Championship next week, many top players have decided to come over early for extra preparation. As of now, the field is led by World Number Two Rory McIlroy, who is playing his first event since gagging away the US Open in June. World Number One Scottie Scheffler is skipping this week for added rest. McIlroy is the betting favorite at +700 on the DraftKings Sportsbook but is followed closely by 2022 Scottish champion Xander Schauffele at +800 and Collin Morikawa at +1200.
One final note on the event, three remaining spots to qualify for the Open Championship are up for grabs this week for players not already qualified. The top three non-qualified players will get spots into the Open but must also make the cut at the event to qualify.
The cut line and cut rules remain the same as any standard PGA event, with the top 65 players and ties after Friday getting to play the weekend.
The Course
The Renaissance Club — par 70, 7,237 yards
North Berwick, Scotland
The Renaissance Club will host the Scottish Open for the fifth year in a row. The venue was created back in 2007 by Tom Doak and sits on the peninsula just outside Edinborough and in close proximity to some other famous Scottish Links courses. The course is close enough to the sea that any poor weather coming in will wreak havoc with the scoring, and we’ve seen dramatic, in-tournament shifts, take place at each of the past two events.
2022 saw Cameron Tringale open with a 61 at this relatively simple setup but that 9-under opening round was blown away by poor weather. Trinagale and the field struggled afterward and the winner ended up getting into the clubhouse at just 7-under par.
That 2022 result is in stark contrast to what we saw in 2019, the first year this event was hosted by the Renaissance Club when DP World Tour grinder Bernd Weisberger was able to dismantle the course to the tune of 22-under par. Weisberger is a solid iron player when he’s on but to see him get that low allows you to understand what the PGA pros may be capable of at this venue if they get calm conditions.
The course itself is a traditional links setup with fescue greens and hard fairways that will require intelligent decision-making. Your ball can roll a lot here and that’s helped shorter hitters like Trinagale and Weisberger when the wind is down. Despite it being a par 71 there are four par 5s and while they do have quirky large greens, they are still very short holes for the pros and will yield a ton of birdies if the course is soft.
One of the most interesting wrinkles of this course is the fact that while there are four par 5s, there are also five par 3s, meaning par 4s make up only half the course. The par 3s tend to play as some of the most difficult on the course and three stretch over 200 yards, making ball striking extremely vital here when the wind is up. Each of the last two winners at the Renaissance Club gained over 5.0 strokes on approach and elite ball striking tends to become more and more important as the weather deteriorates.
The venue sits right on the coastline of the North Sea, which means it’s always at risk of being affected by heavy winds or rain. How it will play in 2024 is still somewhat up in the air, but here’s some insight from the designer as to how the course will play, depending on the weather:
“The windier and firmer it is, the more ball-striking plays a premium,” Doak says. “If it’s soft, it becomes more of a putting contest, and that’s not what the best players want to see. There are a few greens with some really tricky short-game shots – the back pin on the 18th is one, but more of them are on the front nine, as well as the shots around the 10th and 11th greens.”
With some rain, but little wind on tap, look for approach games and putting to be of vital importance, with perhaps less emphasis on short games than we’ve in years past
2024 Outlook: We have an interesting weather pattern rolling in this week, with some cool weather and rain in the forecast but relatively mild wind. Thursday is expected to see gusts in the 10-15 mph range, but those are expected to go down slightly as the day progresses. That may help the late starters on Day 1, who will see warmer temperatures, and less wind and may also get a softer course thanks to some early-day rain. After Thursday, winds are expected to stay in the 5-10mph range most of the week with highs in the 55-60 F range. It won’t be warm, but the course will likely play soft, and without wind, accurate iron players and putters should prosper. Look for better scoring this year and players who like easier conditions to prosper.
Last 5 winners
*The last five iterations of the Scottish Open were played at The Renaissance Club, the site of this year’s Scottish Open
2023—Rory McIlroy -15 (over Robert MacIntyre -14)
2022—Xander Schauffele -7 (over Kurt Kitayama -6)
2021—Min Woo Lee -18 (over Thomas Detry and Matthew Fitzpatrick playoff)
2020—Aaron Rai -11 (over Tommy Fleetwood playoff)
2018—Bernd Wiesberger -22 (over Benjamin Hebert playoff)
Winners Stats and Course Overview
2023 Winner: Rory McIlroy (15-under par)
2023 lead-in form (T7-T9-T2-T7-T7)
SG: OTT—+5.6
SG: APP—+5.5
SG: ATG—+1.5
SG: PUTT—+1.5
SG: TTG—+14.1
- The last two winners went off at +800 and +1800 respectively and were coming in with great form. McIlroy had top-10 finishes in five straight starts and Schauffele had just won two weeks prior at the Travelers.
- Each of the last two winners relied heavily on great ball-striking and dealt with some severe winds. This year’s event may not be as windy but will be cooler and involve rain
- It’s worth noting that each of the past five winners had all played well in their start directly prior to winning this event. Min Woo Lee placed in the top 20 the week prior in Ireland and Aaron Rai, who won this event in 2020, finished second at the same event before winning.
- Ultimately, we want players flashing good form but elite iron play really needs to be emphasized given the fact players will likely see at least some harsh conditions before the week ends.
Finding Values (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Robert MacIntyre +4000 and $7,800
Comparables:
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5000 and $7,500
Comparables:
All odds are provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change
RECENT FORM
1. Davis Thompson ($7,900; win-T2): Thompson is on an absolute heater right now. The 25-year-old gained an absurd 12.7 strokes putting and around the greens last week in Illinois and has gained strokes across the board in each of his last three starts. He’ll be somewhat hungover after his first PGA win but is a legitimate star in the making.
2. Aaron Rai ($8,300; T7-2nd): Rai’s consistent ball striking continues to gain him big finishes. The Englishman has four straight top-20 finishes and finished 2nd and T7 in his last two starts. A former winner of the Scottish Open (2020), he’ll be hoping for windy conditions where his elite iron play can prosper.
3. Rory McIlroy ($11,900; T2-T15): McIlroy returns to play this week after a three-week hiatus. He finished T2 at the US Open, T15 at the Memorial, and T4 in Canada over his last three starts. McIlroy has some scar tissue to deal with this week but few on the PGA have outperformed him this season.
4. Collin Morikawa ($10,300; T13-T14): Morikawa has had some close calls of late. He went off in the final group at the PGA in May and finished second to Scottie Scheffler at the Memorial. He’s gained strokes across all four major categories in four straight starts.
5. Andrew Novak ($6,200; T7-T20): Novak is a nice sleeper to target this week. The American has posted three straight top 20s and gained strokes on approach and putting in each of those events. He missed the cut in Scotland last year but his improved play should give him a shot at paying off as a lower-tier value for DFS this week.
DRAFTKINGS DFS STRATEGY
Cash Games: Conners and Hoge should deliver value
If the conditions aren’t super windy this week then the high-end iron players should have their way around the Renaissance Club. Both Corey Conners ($8,900) and Tom Hoge ($7,100) have been in superb form with their approach play this year and rank out in the top 12 for SG: Approach stats over the past 24 rounds. Conners (who ranks first in that stat) is also coming off a T9 at the US Open and has shown an improved short game of late. Both men finished T19 at this venue last season and with Hoge’s salary barely over 7K, they make for a nice starting duo for any Heads Up or 50/50 lineup. Some other names to consider for this format include Arron Rai ($8,300) and Sepp Straka ($7,600).
Tournaments: Nicolai Hojgaard could boom
Both Hojgaard twins are in the field this week, and while you could certainly roster both Rasmus and Nicolai (both are $6,800) if we are being fickle, it’s Nicolai Hojgaard ($6,800) who I’d give preference. The Dane hasn’t had a ton of great results of late but he’s hit his irons well in three straight starts, gaining over 2.0 strokes in each of his last three PGA events. Hojgaard also finished T6 at this venue last season, shooting a second-round 63 in the process. If the rest of his game comes around, more low scores should be out there for Hojgaard, who has typically shown his best stuff when conditions have been soft. Further down the field, Ben Griffin ($6,600) is a name who should do well around this sort of technical environment, and if you need a cheap option, both Romain Langasque ($5,800) and Matthew Southgate ($5,600 - see below) are coming off good weeks in Germany.
MY PICK: Viktor Hovland ($9,700)
Despite a lackluster US Open, I think we’re likely to see some solid golf from Viktor Hovland again quite soon. The Norweigan missed the cut after a nightmare start at Pinehurst but did manage a T20 at the Travelers, where he showed more steadiness off the tee. Hovland is still working his way back from a failed attempt at altering his swing but the results since he made the switch back have been promising.
He managed a T3 at the PGA Championship in May, and currently ranks 5th in strokes gained approach stats over the last 24 rounds — even despite losing strokes in that area at the Travelers.
From a setup perspective, the Renaissance Club is also the perfect type of course for Hovland to build some confidence. He’s a coastal expert, having landed wins in Puerto Rico and Mexico x2 (Yucatan Peninsula), and has finished T13, T12, and T4 in three Open Championship appearances. He’s yet to land a high finish at the Renaissance Club but shot 63-67 there in Round 2 and 3 last season, on his way to a T25 finish. With mild weather on tap, it should also mean less stress on short games, a good thing for Hovland who ranks near the bottom of the field in SG ATG stats over the last 24 rounds.
At under 10k, Hovland makes for a great target in big field tournaments this week on DraftKings for DFS lineups, and at +2000 or better, he’s a solid value to target for betting on DraftKings Sportsbook.
MY SLEEPER: Matthew Southgate ($5,600)
I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but it always feels like Southgate’s game peaks around the Open. The Englishman is only ranked 217th in the OWGR but has made a habit of popping up with big results at links courses, and managed a T4 finish in Germany last week at the BMW International; a DP World Tour event. Southgate was only 88th in strokes gained putting last week but ranked 8th in SG: Approach and 2nd in SG: Tee to Green stats.
For his career, he’s posted two top 12 finishes at the Open Championship (2016 and 2017) and placed 2nd twice at the Alfred Dunhill Links event, which is held on a three-course rotation that includes the Old Course at St. Andrews. With his game trending up and his price sitting at a mere $5,600, it’s hard not to see the upside he possesses on a course like the Rennaisance Club, where a ton of great links players have thrived since the event moved to this location.
For betting, he’s as big as +25000 on DraftKings Sportsbook in the Outright market and makes sense as a top 10/20 target at +1800/+700 odds on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.