Scottish Open 2020 Betting Preview

The Scottish Open returns to the Renaissance Club in North Berwick for the second straight year. Tommy Fleetwood headlines a stacked field that includes lots of familiar faces, and we’ll see a golf course should be ripe for the picking.

Cold temperatures and moderate rainfall are to be expected, but the par-71 track designed by Tom Doak will still yield plenty of red numbers. Bernd Wiesberger captured the trophy here last year at 22-under-par, while 19 players shot -17 or better.

Onto a Scottish Open prediction for 2020.

Justin Rose was originally slated to play, as was Shane Lowry, but the reconfigured schedule led to their WDs. That leaves Tommy Fleetwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick separated from the rest of the pack on the odds sheet.

Tommy placed third in his last European Tour start, although an “MC Hammer” at Winged Foot should have some bettors wary. The 29-year-old Englishman hit just 15/36 greens in regulation at the US Open before making an early exit on Friday afternoon.

As far as trusting Fitzpatrick at +1100, that seems like an unenviable position. Three top-6 finishes among his last six starts stand out, but so do three missed cuts.

After emerging at Valderrama to secure his first European Tour title, John Catlin wasted little time notching victory #2. A spectacular 64 last Sunday at Galgorm Castle GC propelled Catlin to the title at the Irish Open.

Do two wins in September mean the University of New Mexico product is now a force to be reckoned with?

John Catlin won on the European Tour for the second time in three weeks at the Irish Open. ?https://t.co/qY6L7CCXxP

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 27, 2020

Perhaps no need to go that far, but golf is indeed a game of momentum. This dude clearly has a lot of it.

I was tempted to lean toward a Scotsman to hoist the trophy in his homeland. Unfortunately, Robert MacIntyre is searching to find a groove and I’m not ready to trust Callum Hill just yet.

Instead, I’ll dip into one of the seven players in the field this week currently ranked inside the top 50 in the world.

It’s been just over a year since Erik van Rooyen last triumphed on the European circuit, and he’s been a bit hit or miss since play resumed in June. Nevertheless, the 30-year-old South African notched a top-25 his at the US Open and appears ready to pounce.

At Winged Foot, Erik’s iron play was sharp and he ranked 8^th in putts per GIR. Aside from showing good form his last time out, shopping van Rooyen’s odds open up some value.

While my Scottish Open pick is lurking at +2500 at several of the top bookmakers, he’s sitting at +3300 at MyBookie.