Scottish Open preview: Loaded field tackles The Renaissance Club

The last tune-up before the season's final major will be held this week in Scotland at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick.

The Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour for the second straight year, ensuring that a strong field tees it up before the Open Championship next week at Royal Liverpool.

The field is split between DP World Tour and PGA TOUR members, with eight of the top 10 players in the world teeing it up, led by Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and last year's winner Xander Schauffele.

When: July 13-16
Where: The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland

How to watch

Last year's result

A final-round 70 was enough for Schauffele to secure his seventh career PGA TOUR victory by one stroke over Kurt Kitayama. The result was in doubt right until the end. Kitayama missed a six-foot par putt on No. 17 to drop one back, and Schauffele took advantage with an eight-foot par putt of his own at No. 17 to stretch his lead to two. That allowed him to play the 72nd hole conservatively, with a bogey finish merely halving the margin of victory.

The leaderboard featured a number of big names making the charge in Scotland, with Tom Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth, and Cameron Smith all posting top-10 finishes.

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3 reasons to watch

Start of links season

While most of the courses on the PGA TOUR schedule are very similar to one another and offer a similar challenge, this week in Scotland and next week at The Open will represent a much different style of golf. The Renaissance Club may not be a traditional links-style setup on the coast of the ocean, but it's still much closer to that form of golf than the weekly stop on the TOUR schedule. The turf is much different, there are almost no trees on the course, and wind is expected to wreak havoc on the players.

"I don't know if it was love at first sight, but I did enjoy playing with winds blowing 30 (mph) and playing the ball down closer to the ground, and you know, it being okay to sort of aim 100 yards away from a bunker you can't go in and just play from there. It's just fun golf for me," Schauffele said following last year's win, according to ASAP Sports.

Blockbuster field

The combination of the event being co-sanctioned and falling the week before the season's final major has once again brought a blockbuster field to Scotland. Not only are eight of the top 10 players in the world teeing it up, but 17 of the top 25 are entered. It's the first time we've seen most of the top talent since the Travelers Championship in late June, although crowd favorite Rickie Fowler is fresh off his victory two weeks ago in Detroit.

Last chance at The Open

The field is almost set for next week's final major of the season at Royal Liverpool, but there are three places still up for grabs for the highest finishers at the Scottish Open not already in the field. That's a huge added incentive for those players that enter this week not on the tee sheet for The Open. The Renaissance Club has served as a solid practice layout for the following week, with four players in the top 10 last year also placing in the top 10 for the Open Championship.

Betting odds

Scottie Scheffler +700
Rory McIlroy +800
Patrick Cantlay +1,400
Xander Schauffele +1,400
Rickie Fowler +1,800
Viktor Hovland +1,800
Jordan Spieth +2,000
Matthew Fitzpatrick +2,000
Tommy Fleetwood +2,000
Tyrrell Hatton +2,000
Justin Rose +3,300
Max Homa +3,300
Shane Lowry +3,300
Min Woo Lee +3,500
Sungjae Im +4,000
Tom Kim +4,000
Wyndham Clark +4,000

Odds via theScore Bet