8 choose our favorite expert

Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com expert Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a regular guest on SportsGrid, an integrated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting. You can follow on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer, and you can read his picks below for the Genesis Scottish Open, which starts Thursday in North Berwick, Scotland. Along with Kannon’s recommended games, you’ll see data from Chirp Golf, a mobile app that includes both Free-To-Play and Daily Fantasy golf tournaments where you can win cash and prizes for each round and tournament.

Who wouldn’t want to play golf in Scotland in the next few weeks?

After the trifecta of birdie-fests stateside, the PGA Tour spends the next two weeks across the pond, starting with the Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick, followed by the season’s final major, the Open Championship at Royal Troon.

It will be the sixth consecutive season that the Scottish Open has taken place at The Renaissance Club, a par-70 Tom Doak design measuring better than 7,200 yards. It will be the third year in a row that the tournament is jointly sponsored by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Each tour will send approximately 75 of its best players into battle. A few names notably absent this week are World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay.

The golf course offers an excellent program for The Open due to its modern links-style design that opened in 2008. A test of soft, soft sea links compared to the full version will follow next week. As is often the case, when we cross over to the United Kingdom, seating is very limited this week at The Renaissance Club. They are a fescue grass surface and should run about a 10 on the Stimpmeter, compared to a typical Tour event that runs about a 12.

Placing proved to be a key statistic in the last five editions of the tournament. Driving Distance and Strokes Gained: Off the Tee saw the form of major hitters Min Woo Lee, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy as your last three winners.

The setup is different, as there are five par-3s, three par-5s and 10 par-4s. Only one par-4 is under 400 yards and six of them measure between 450-500 yards. With some rain in the forecast and light winds expected, one will need to collect the birds and, as is always the case with link design, ingenuity and skill will be required to succeed.

Because this golf course is new, there are the same structures we are used to seeing. We also have a few Doak designs or redesigns to throw into the mix, Memorial Park in Houston, home of the Houston Open for the last four seasons, and St. George’s Golf & Country Club, home of the Canadian Open, most recently in 2022. Another thing I thought of as related is PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. We’ve seen great success among Open champions, links players and pros at what is now the Cognizant Classic (formerly the Honda). Silverado in Napa (Fortinet), Detroit Golf Club (Rocket Mortgage), TPC Craig Ranch (Byron Nelson), Hamilton Golf & Country Club (Canadian Open 2019, 2024) and Pinehurst No. 2, home of the US Open last month, others made my list this week.

So, what does all that mean? Interestingly, I don’t have a single American player on my card this week. It’s not intentional – I believe it just speaks to the element of randomness here, not only with links golf in general, but the fact that this is the week before a major tournament, and also because half the players are in the tournament. The course comes from, for the most part, a completely different world golf tour. I played each match to win outright and finish in the top 20.

Tommy Fleetwood (19-1)

Full disclosure, I already have a ticket for Fleetwood next week at Royal Troon at 30-1, so I was hesitant to add him here again but I couldn’t rule him out on the card in the end, because of his beauty. season-long form and his performance on this golf course, where he finished sixth, fourth and second, missing out on a playoff in 2020. Very accurate, great links player. In the last 36 rounds, Fleetwood is eighth in the scratch and 13th on par-4s measuring 450-500 yards. He also owns third and fourth place in the Honda Classic. In typical Fleetwood fashion, he might not win but I have to believe he’ll at least be close.

Mr Woo Lee (30-1)

With Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry in the playoff here in 2021, I’m looking for another strong showing from Australia. He has finished in the top-35 here on two other occasions. He finished second in the Rocket Mortgage Classic and was runner-up earlier this season at PGA National. He has not finished worse than 26 in his six starts, including 21st at Pinehurst and 24th at TPC Craig Ranch. In the last 36 rounds, he finished in the top 10 in Driving Distance and SG: Off the Tee, and top-20 in Birdies or Better Gained and par-4s 450-500 yards .

Aaron Rai (50-1)

Perhaps the stars are aligning for Rai, who returns to his home country of Europe, to the course he won before – the 2020 Fleetwood qualifier – coming off two weeks in a row in the last group on Sunday. Maybe this is what it will take for the Englishman to get over the hump. He finished seventh for the second time at Memorial Park in Houston earlier this season. He took 14th at Pinehurst, 14th at Hamilton in Canada and 13th at St. George’s in Canada in 2022. With everything that seems to be in his favor, 50-1 is an incredible number.

Wyndham Clark (52-1)

Speaking of price, I believe that’s what we’re getting here from a guy whose form suddenly dipped mid-season. Clark was winning at Pebble Beach or seemingly finishing second to Scottie Scheffler every week before collapsing in early April. However, he is coming off a top 10 finish a few weeks ago at the Traveler Championship, and has a strong record here at The Renaissance Club with 16th and 25th finishes. He is 11th and seventh at PGA National, eighth in Detroit, 16th in Houston and seventh in Canada in 2022. The time may be right for one of the best players in the world to step out of the limelight for a bit.

Alex Noren (80-1)

Noren has won the Scottish Open. Not on this golf course but the man has the links chops, having won 11 times on the DP World Tour. He also has top-10 finishes at PGA National, two at Detroit, one at TPC Craig Ranch and one at Memorial Park. He is excellent on approach and par-4s and his short game is world class. It sounds like Fleetwood, none of them have won in the US world, in that he may not win here but I can see him having another strong week.

Thomas Detry (80-1)

Detry seems to love this golf course, perhaps more than anyone else on the course. This will be his sixth consecutive season at The Renaissance Club with no worse than 43rd. He was in the top 10 in 2022 and lost to Lee in 2021. He has also been in excellent form with second place finishes in Houston, 4th at the PGA Championship and 14th at Pinehurst. Detry can rack up birdies and is a very good putter.

Matt Wallace (125-1)

Crazy, I’ve seen this number as high as 150-1 and as low as 80-1. Like Noren, Wallace is another tall player who is an excellent link player. It was just last fall when he finished sixth in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He has been consistently in the top-30 here at North Berwick and finished 14th here in 2019. He has two top-12 finishes at Detroit Golf Club and recently took fourth place from Byron Nelson this season. A few weeks ago, he was 15 at the KLM Open in the Netherlands. Wallace hits it long enough, is very solid in his approach and has a better short game than average. Another attractive long shot from Europe.

Matthew Jordan (175-1)

Now this one is very long but again, I believe it has a better shot than its price would suggest, and I believe it has a good shot of paying us to finish in the top 20. Jordan burst onto the scene last July when he finished in the top ten at The Open Championship in his hometown. He hits long, hits the greens fair and can putt. He finished 18th in 2021 and has recorded top-13 finishes in his last five starts. When the bounces, the weather and the results can be random, I believe that the little Jordan is a little more suitable.

Chirp Golfers picks this week

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