Breaking down Scottish Open DraftKings picks for the PGA DFS slate this week with plays and fades from each tier along with building a winning lineup.
It’s time for the Genesis Scottish Open this week with 17 of the Top 20 players in the world heading to The Renaissance Club, the venue that has hosted this tournament for the past three years now. Obviously, this strength of field and the tournament itself benefit from being the week before The Open Championship, but that gives us PGA DFS players advantages for value when looking for our DraftKings picks.
Truthfully, the slate really looks like that of a major championship with some of the pricing. But that’s to our advantage. We must be smarter than we were last week with a substandard John Deere Classic lineup that we put out there but it feels like a good spot at the Scottish Open where length, play with long irons and scoring prowess are key while things like around the green play and overall approach play are not as important as they have been.
With that, let’s dive right into our DraftKings picks for the Scottish Open as we break down the top plays and top fades from each pricing tier before building our winning PGA DFS lineup for the week.
DraftKings picks for the Scottish Open PGA DFS lineups: Top Plays
$10,000: Justin Thomas ($10,600) – Thomas is my outright pick for this week, so it should come as no shock that this is my favorite play in the $10K range. His prowess with long irons should play extremely well here, as should his sneaky length off of the tee and his ability to be creative and thrive in tough, windy conditions. I love for him to show up big and make an impact this week. Also Consider: Jon Rahm ($11,000), Matt Fitzpatrick ($10,100)
$9,000: Cameron Smith ($9,100) – With the forecast for the wind and weather right now in Scotland, I’m liking Cameron Smith over Xander Schauffele in this range for the week. He’s been elite on approach but has uncharacteristically been struggling with the putter. I don’t think that lasts and we should see the Aussie use his creativity at a place where driving accuracy almost doesn’t matter and really make a move. Also Consider: Xander Schauffele ($9,900), Will Zalatoris ($9,300), Sam Burns ($9,200), Hideki Matsuyama ($9,000)
$8,000: Max Homa ($8,000) – This pricing doesn’t reflect just how good Max Homa has been around the world and I’m fully ready to take advantage of that. Homa has elevated his game in all facets and has enough skill with his ball-striking to make some noise this week. As long as the putter isn’t downright bad, I expect him to finish strong this week and more than pay off this price. Also Consider: Jordan Spieth ($8,900), Viktor Hovland ($8,800), Ryan Fox ($8,500), Tommy Fleetwood ($8,400), Cameron Young ($8,100)
$7,000: Aaron Rai ($7,400) – The winner of this event in 2020, Rai has been impressive this year and, most importantly, has started to show some consistency. Over his last seven starts, he’s only missed one cut and has three finishes of T26 or better. He also finished a solid T35 at this event last year. All of that folds into a player at a more than affordable price that should be tremendous value this week. Also Consider: Tyrrell Hatton ($7,800), Lucas Herbert ($7,600), Chris Kirk ($7,400), Min Woo Lee ($7,300), Erik Van Rooyen ($7,100)
$6,000: Padraig Harrington ($6,700) – Yes, it might seem foolish to take an older player here, but Harrington checks all you could want. He was Top 40 at the Irish Open last week and won the US Senior Open just before that. Moreover, he’s finished T9 and T18 at the Scottish Open in the past two years. It might be a bit risky but I can’t argue with what his form and history at The Renaissance Club are telling me. Also Consider: Ian Poulter ($6,900), Matt Wallace ($6,700), Wyndham Clark ($6,500), Adrian Otaegui ($6,300)
DraftKings picks for the Scottish Open PGA DFS lineups: Top Fades
$10,000: Scottie Scheffler ($11,200) – Just to get this out of the way, this isn’t a full-blown fade of Scheffler. He finished 12th at this tournament last year and, even if he’s not winning every event he plays now, he’s still been quite impressive as of late. With that said, I don’t like him as much as the rest of the $10K range and, as such, don’t feel like I’ll be paying up for him, hence why he makes the top fade category for the top pricing tier.
$9,000: Collin Morikawa ($9,400) – Plenty of love has been given to Morikawa coming into this week given that he’s the reigning champion at The Open. However, he won last year in relatively benign conditions, which goes into my biggest criticism of the young star — he doesn’t play well in tough conditions. With wind not really dipping below 15 mph this week, I don’t like what that means for him and think he could have some struggles to pay off this price.
$8,000: Corey Conners ($8,300) – People always love ball-strikers, which is why Conners is popular so often. Yet, he missed the cut at The Renaissance Club last year and in his last event at the US Open. He’s not been in consistent form much at all this year with a lot of peaks and valleys, so I’m going to have a hard time trusting him in what is a rich $8K range this week.
$7,000: Alex Noren ($7,500) – At his best, this should be a place where we could see Noren really have a chance to perform well. The problem with that he’s been far from his best lately with three straight missed cuts on the PGA Tour. I don’t like the form he’s showing right now and, while there are other guys in a deep range that I’m not fond of either, I’m too scared to touch Noren given his current form.
Scottish Open: Best DraftKings golf lineup
- Justin Thomas ($10,600)
- Cameron Smith ($9,100)
- Ryan Fox ($8,500)
- Max Homa ($8,000)
- Erik Van Rooyen ($7,100)
- Padraig Harrington ($6,700)
Thomas, Smith, Homa and Harrington have all been discussed and the elder statesman of that group at such a cheap price really allows for a lot of flexibility in constructing this lineup.
Fox has a best finish at The Renaissance Club of just T44 last year but he’s improved every year he’s played. More importantly, he’s been hot as fire as of late on the DP World Tour with three runner-up finishes and a T3 in his last four starts there. He missed the cut at the US Open and was T54 at the PGA Championship, but he’s been a force overseas.
As for Van Rooyen, he’s the risk here as he’s entering the tournament coming off of four straight missed cuts. With that said, it’s been his short game really struggling and that shouldn’t be a huge issue in this tournament. When you then throw in that he was T6 here in 2020 and T14 the year prior, I like the value he could provide at the bottom of the $7K range.