Power Rankings: Genesis Scottish Open

As the PGA TOUR races down the home stretch of the 2022-23 season, it’s going two-wide with the DP World Tour for the next two weeks. Each of the four co-sanctioned tournaments will feature a 156-man field and an official PGA TOUR victory.

A Power Rankings will accompany all four as well. The series begins with this one for the Genesis Scottish Open. It’s the second time that it’s been an official competition on the PGA TOUR and the fifth consecutive edition hosted at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick. Expectations for the field and more below.

Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and 2022 runner-up Kurt Kitayama will be among the notables reviewed in Golfbet Insider.

For 82 slated to compete at The Renaissance Club as of Monday, this is a two-week commitment in Great Britain. They will head to Royal Liverpool in England for The Open Championship next week. However, three of them will not be determined until the conclusion of the Genesis Scottish Open from which the top three finishers, not otherwise exempt into The Open, will gain entry and complete the field for the final major of 2023.

Not unlike Royal Liverpool’s exposure to menacing sea breezes, The Renaissance Club is adjacent to the Firth of Forth. This, of course, is among the staples of links-style courses, so the entrants will be battling conditions more often than usual during this fortnight.

Wind promises to punish early and late in Scotland for which the cut is a standard low 65 and ties. Gusts could exceed 30 mph by Sunday. The only relative break in the forecast is on Friday. Daytime temperatures will eclipse 60 degree throughout. A sprinkle of rain almost never can be ruled out in these climes, but the strongest threat is on Saturday.

The Renaissance Club is a par 70 that can extend to 7,237 yards. It’s not stock in that it has five par 3s and three par 5s, but despite only 10 par 4s, three of them ranked among the top-15 hardest of 533 par 4s used during the entirety of the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season. With a scoring average of 4.617, the finishing hole was the hardest of all. Of 462 scores posted on it, only six were birdies. There were no eagles and, surprisingly in the context of its challenge, the worst score was a double bogey.

At +0.286 strokes to par, the par-3 ninth was the fifth-toughest of 204 par 3s on TOUR last year. Overall scoring for the tournament checked in at 71.732, thus securing The Renaissance Club as the hardest par 70 among non-majors.

To assist the golfers in retaining some control, fescue greens max at 11½ feet on the Stimpmeter, but there’s nowhere to hide. Splitting fairways between primary rough cut to 2½ inches, hitting greens in regulation, converting GIR into par breakers, salvaging pars, scoring on all pars, etc. … all measurements landed inside the top-10 hardest of all courses in The Renaissance Club’s debut on the PGA TOUR.

Xander Schauffele’s winning score of 7-under 273 in 2022 is a fair target again this week. Incidentally, Schauffele’s aggregate equaled Aaron Rai’s tournament-high (in 2020) among the first three winners at The Renaissance Club (2019-2021), but the course played as a par 71 for each.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings (Scottish)

TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Barbasol), Sleepers (Scottish)

WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider

SUNDAY: Payouts and Points (Scottish), Payouts and Points (Barbasol), Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle

* - Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.