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With his history at the Renaissance Club, Rory McIlroy could assume the role as favorite at the Scottish Open.
A winner in 2023 and a runner-up to Chris Gotterup last year, McIlroy is not the betting favorite in this week’s tune up to the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. That honor is bestowed on Scottie Scheffler, who is still searching for his second win after opening the season by capturing the American Express.
A four-time runner-up in 2026 (most recently at the Travelers where he lost in a Monday morning playoff to Viktor Hovland), Scheffler is hungry. And the oddsmakers know it. So let’s just see how much of a favorite he is going up against McIlroy and a competitive field in Scotland.
Wish we could get Xander Schauffele at a bit of a higher number after his T-51 finish at Travelers but … we’ll have to settle with what’s available at +2000. The 2022 winner is plenty comfortable in Scotland coming off a T-8 last year and a T-15 in 2024.
Moreover, Schauffele has been up to the task against major competition which the Scottish Open dubs as with names like Rahm and Hatton in contention. Schauffele has gone T-9 at Augusta, T-7 at Aronimink and T-11 at Shinnecock. We like everything about him.
Marco Penge, who finished top 10 in Munich last week after not playing for six weeks due to illness, was the most intriguing name when scrolling down. But at +9000 (down from an opening +12500!), he’s almost too long to give out here. We’ll instead turn to 2026 PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai at +7400.
Like Schauffele, the T-30 finish for Rai in Connecticut leaves room to be desired but all of his metrics are green and the results on the biggest stage are there — clearly. It’s nearly impossible to find a reason why the 2020 Scottish Open champion should be priced in the same vicinity as names like Adam Scott (three cuts in six events), Brooks Koepka (no top-5 finishes since returning to Tour), and Jake Knapp (injuries have derailed incredible start to season). Additionally, Min Woo Lee, Kurt Kitayama and David Puig actually sit above Rai in the odds forecast — and we just disagree.
Wyndham Clark at +4800 is a lot better than his +3400 to win ticket so we’ll hand that out to start. This market seems difficult to win on though, so we’ll look to see what we can do with T-10 finishes (including ties) for the first 18 holes.
Three names in that prop field that are worth a box of ziti on: Ryan Gerard (+810), Eugenio Chacarra (+770), and Michael Brennan (+800).
Steering clear of a top-10 pick to recommend a three-player parlay that features Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, and Alex Fitzpatrick all to finish in the top 20 (ties included). That lineup pays out at +750.
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