Welcome back Degens! The 2022 Scottish Open is here and it’s time to make some picks! This week we are across the pond in Scotland at the Renaissance Club. My co-host Steve Schirmer does a great job breaking down the course here. This week, we have a stacked field here in preparation for The Open next week.
This week is the time to get your body clocks tuned in for next week. With the first tee times going off at 2:15 AM EST, be ready for a non-productive week at work. This card is full of opportunities with some interesting matchups and DP World Tour guys that most people don’t know anything about. So let’s dive in and fatten our wallets before The 150th Open Championship! Here are my top picks for the 2022 Scottish Open.
2022 Scottish Open Picks – Outright Bets
Cam Smith– 30/1
I snap bet Cam Smith when I saw this number. You don’t get many opportunities to bet a Top 5 golfer in the world with a 3 in front of their name.
Cam’s problems are off-the-tee and that shouldn’t be a huge problem this week. You can miss the fairways here and be ok. The putter is his biggest weapon and that has cooled recently. He has lost strokes putting over his last two events. That being said, he hasn’t lost strokes with his putter in 3 straight events since August of 2020. Expect his putter to bounce back this week.
He is 3rd in approach in this field and is always rock solid tee-to-green. If he can stay on the planet with his driver and his putter gets back to normal, there is no reason he can’t win. So start with great value with Cam Smith at 30/1.
Billy Horschel – 66/1
I’m not usually a Billy guy, but he checks a lot of boxes this week. He is strong off-the-tee, he has good approach play and he can get white hot with his putter. He missed the cut at the US Open after winning The Memorial, but I’m not worried about that. The fact that he’s Top 20 in this field off-the-tee and tee-to-green tells me that he’s locked in.
Horschel has experience playing the DP World Tour helps as well. He recently competed in the BMW International Open. He also has a win at the BMW PGA Championship and has competed at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. His links record is meh, but this is a faux links course. He’ll be fine. Grab Billy at 66/1.
2022 Scottish Open Picks – Other Props
Edoardo Molinari Top 20 – +500
The good Molinari brother is coming in with good form. He has three Top 25’s and a 5th place finish in his last four starts. He finished 18th in a field that’s not quite as strong as this year will be, but it was strong enough for me to take notice. +500 on a good Euro with decent pedigree, in good form and with good course history is enough for me to put on my card.
Other Top 20’s to Consider
- Joaquin Niemann – +180
- Tyrrell Hatton– +220
- Lucas Herbert – +300
Harris English -110 over Joel Dahmen
I might be getting a little cute with this matchup, but it stuck out to me. English and Dahmen are players on two different levels. English was on the damn Ryder Cup team and he’s pitted against the bucket hat guy? If English is healthy, this is a slam dunk. He just came in 19th at the Travelers and is beginning to shake off the rust. He got in trouble off-the-tee and irons were just a little bit lost, but gained over six strokes with his putter. If he was able to shake off the rust there, I absolutely love him to take down Joel Dahmen this week.
