5 Big Names To Watch At The Genesis Scottish Open

Links season is upon us and it's a huge week at the Renaissance Club for the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open on both the PGA and DP World Tours.

Xander Schauffele defends the title as Scotland's national open heads to Renaissance for the fifth consecutive year. A total of 156 of the PGA and DP World Tour's finest players will grace the East Lothian links to try and win the Rolex Series title and get their games trending into next week's 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Eight of the world's top 10 line up in the stacked field, including TaylorMade athletes World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and World No.3 Rory McIlroy.

Here we take a look at five TaylorMade staffers to look out for this week in Scotland...

Genesis Scottish Open Key Info

5 Players To Watch At The Genesis Scottish Open

Scottie Scheffler

• World Ranking: 1
• PGA Tour wins: 6

View Scottie Scheffler What's in the bag?

The World No.1 is playing phenomenal golf this year and he may even be disappointed with the fact that he has 'only' won two tournaments.

Scheffler defended the WM Phoenix Open and then won the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. 

He hasn't finished outside of the top-five since April and incredible he hasn't placed outside of the top 12 since October. 

Rory McIlroy

• World Ranking: 3
• PGA Tour wins: 23

View Rory McIlroy What's in the bag?

McIlroy is back at the Scottish Open after skipping it last year, with the Northern Irishman hoping to get his game trending heading into Hoylake.

The four-time Major champion came so close to winning the US Open last month and then posted a T7 at the designated Travelers Championship, where he made his first ever hole-in-one.

His last five results read T7-T7-T9-2-T7. Will he get a '1' over the next two weeks? It's likely!

Rickie Fowler

• World Ranking: 21
• PGA Tour wins: 6

View Rickie Fowler What's in the bag?

What a year it has been for Rickie. He is back in the winner's circle for the first time since February 2019, shot 62 in the US Open and is up to 21st in the world. He's also now likely to feature for Team USA at the Ryder Cup in Rome, something that looked off the table at the end of 2022 when he was outside of the world's top 100.

The talented American looks close to his best and he's surely going to end the year either inside or very close to the world's top 10. 

In terms of the Scottish Open this week, Fowler is among the favourites and rightly so. He won the 2015 Scottish Open at Gullane (less than a 10-minute drive away) and he has a superb Open record with three top-six finishes through the years including a T2nd at Royal Liverpool in 2014.

Tommy Fleetwood

• World Ranking: 22
• DP World Tour wins: 6

View Tommy Fleetwood What's in the bag?

Similarly to Fowler, Tommy Fleetwood has looked back to his best this year and he'll be planning for a great summer and a successful Ryder Cup appearance.

The Englishman's year so far has been highlighted by a couple of weeks, starting with his runner-up at the RBC Canadian Open where he lost out to a 72ft putt on the fourth playoff hole to home favourite Nick Taylor. The following week he became the first man in history to shoot multiple US Open final rounds of 63, with Fleetwood ending T5th at Los Angeles Country Club.

On the PGA Tour this year he has also posted a T3 at the Valspar Championship and a T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship.

He'll be highly fancied for the Open Championship so look out for him at the Renaissance Club this week.

Kurt Kitayama

• World Ranking: 24
• PGA Tour wins: 1

View Kurt Kitayama What's in the bag?

Kitayama has had a break-out 2023 that included his first ever PGA Tour win, and it was a big one. He was triumphant at Bay Hill in March to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational as well as $3.6m and a rise into the world's top 20 for the first time ever. 

Kitayama has played on almost every elite men's tour around the world, including the DP World Tour where he won twice in his first 11 starts! 

The big-hitting Californian was 2nd here at the Renaissance Club last year so will be hoping to go one better.

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