Avid golfers are known to be junkies for the game, but they might even blush in appreciation for how all fans of the sport are treated to what the highest level of professional golf is poised to present.
Two weeks. Two continents. Four tournaments. Every field stocked with 156 golfers. It’s everything you’d want and so much more courtesy of the PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour.
It begins with the Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick, Scotland, on Thursday, and continues later the same day with the concurrently contested ISCO Championship, the Additional Event in Kentucky. How the familiar host of the former, The Renaissance Club, sets up, what’s up for grabs and more are detailed below.
Power Rankings for Genesis Scottish Open
| Rank | Players | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 15 |  Max Greyserman United States of America | Spent last week licking his wounds following a playoff loss at the Rocket Classic, but the strong performance is the lasting takeaway. It also was his 10th straight payday. Debuted here last year with four sub-70s and a T21. |
| 14 |  Nick Taylor Canada | The Canuck has been on a nice roll. Across his last seven starts, he has a fourth-place finish among six top 25s, including in his last four. Suitably balanced and experienced for The Renaissance Club (3-for-3; T19 in 2023). |
| 13 |  J.J. SpaunUnited States of America | A breakthrough victory in the U.S. Open alone would constitute a career-best season, but it’s one of, count ’em, four podium finishes. He even closed with a field-low 63 for a T14 in his last start at the Travelers Championship. |
| 12 |  Aaron Rai England | Winner here in 2020 but didn’t make noise again until last year’s T4, which occurred during a torrid stretch. He’s been tepid of late, but the Brit continues to pace the PGA TOUR in fairways hit. Also 21st in greens in regulation. |
| 11 |  Xander SchauffeleUnited States of America | His quiet 2025 includes just one top 10, so if the calculus to turn a corner includes a change of scenery, this qualifies. He won the inaugural edition of this tournament as a PGA TOUR stop in 2022. Also placed T15 last year. |
| 10 |  Brian HarmanUnited States of America | Reconnected with form (as he always does) at the Travelers Championship three weeks ago. The solo eighth was his fifth straight top 10 and eighth of his career at TPC River Highlands. T12 and T21 in last two trips to Scotland. |
| 9 |  Jordan SmithEngland | The Ryder Cup hopeful – the Brit is 13th in European team points – is fresh off a runner-up at the BMW International Open. Four top 10s in seven starts. Fifth in greens hit and scoring on the DP World Tour. Two top 25s here. |
| 8 |  Harry HallEngland | Riding career-best form. He’s cashed in 11 straight starts, the last six of which yielding a top 25 with two top 10s. All but one of those 24 rounds was par or better. Also successfully navigated Final Qualifying for The Open. |
| 7 |  Matt FitzpatrickEngland | After way too long relative to his expectations, he finally regained traction with a T23 at the Truist Championship two months ago. He’s 6-for-6 in the interim with a pair of top 10s. Rose for a T6 here in 2022. Also P2 in 2021. |
| 6 |  Ryan Fox New Zealand | It took the 38-year-old Kiwi some time, but no two paths are the same. Since breaking through at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, he’s added four top 20s, including another TOUR title. His record here includes three top 15s. |
| 5 |  Collin MorikawaUnited States of America | For the first time in a while, he put four rounds together for a T8 at the Rocket Classic two weeks ago. Putting remains a primary target for improvement, but his default tee-to-green game remains lethal. T4 here last year. |
| 4 |  Robert MacIntyre Scotland | Defending his second PGA TOUR title in a month. In the interim, he finished second at the U.S. Open. Also finished second at The Renaissance Club in 2023. His scoring average in his last eight rounds here (all sub-70s) is 66. |
| 3 |  Tommy FleetwoodEngland | The Renaissance Club has been a great fit for the Brit. After a playoff loss in 2020, he finished T4 in 2022 and T6 in 2023. Rested (and, as importantly, separated) since the difficult T2 at the Travelers Championship. |
| 2 |  Scottie SchefflerUnited States of America | T3 in his last appearance in 2023, so he spared last year’s field while claiming nine victories elsewhere worldwide. All three victories this year were in his last six starts, but he’s landed no worse than T8 in his last nine. |
| 1 |  Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland | Got his groove back with a closing 67 at the U.S. Open for a T19. That spilled into a T6 at the Travelers Championship. Winner here in 2023, answered with a T4 a year ago. This trip includes The Open in his homeland next week. |
We all know a college basketball fan or three who has taken vacation days to devote undivided attention to the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. In fact, it’s expected. The behavior is baked into the familiar phrase that denotes the season – March Madness. Coincidentally, the first two rounds of most PGA TOUR events also are contested on Thursdays and Fridays, so join your friends, neighbors, and/or family members who are doing the same this week and next with what will be golf around the clock.
An obvious benefit is that the Genesis Scottish Open preps our body clocks in the United States. The Renaissance Club is situated on the southern edge of the Firth of Forth, 15 miles or so northeast of Edinburgh. That places it five hours ahead of Eastern Time in the U.S. So, balls will be in the air at 2 a.m. on the East Coast. That’s 11 p.m. Pacific Time. It’s long been a perk for all sports fans on the West Coast because of the time difference, and it applies directly to these two weeks. After this week’s treat, the back half of the fortnight includes The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, which is in the same time zone as North Berwick.
The Renaissance Club is a par 70 with five par 3s and three par 5s, but each nine is played to a par of 35. This is the seventh year that it’s hosted the tournament, but this is just the fourth edition as an official PGA TOUR stop. Scoring has improved measurably since it debuted as a dual-tour backdrop in 2022, but that’s surprising only because the wind hasn’t howled enough in classic fashion. En route to a field average of just 68.75 last year, all four rounds ranged from 68.45 to 68.98.
With its exposure to the sea, it should be an extreme test, and it actually is, at least analytically. Despite a first cut of rough at two inches and the thickest stuff reaching five inches, hitting fairways and greens isn’t a heavy lift in pursuit of par breakers, but the large targets have yielded the longest and fourth-longest average in proximity to the hole in the last two years, respectively. That’s directly proportional to the shortest average of putts holed among all courses the PGA TOUR utilizes in both seasons, despite winning aggregates of 15-under 265 (2023) and 18-under 262 (2024).
Contributing to the challenge are primarily fescue surfaces that could measure just 10 1/2 feet using a Stimpmeter. They could run another foot, if possible, but that depends on the wind. Early forecasts include a decent push from the west for the first round. It then could swirl counterclockwise until it matches the feel from the opposite direction by the finale. Passing clouds accompanying daytime highs that should reach 70 degrees serve as a compromise. Because relying on long-range predictions for weather is a folly in these parts, the combination of experience, course management, preparation and patience will be at a premium.
The last three exemptions reserved for automatic qualifiers into The Open are reserved for the top three, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at The Renaissance Club. As of midday Monday, 77 commits to the Genesis Scottish Open have travel plans for the major.