Scottish Open betting: Looking for a Renaissance man

Last week, the men's professional golf world was fractured more than ever before. Some played due to extreme financial obligation, some to further their careers, and many of the best golfers in the world played for - get this - fun.

Preparations for next week's Open Championship were less than serious for those who showed up overseas early. But the top players in the world will kick it up a notch on Thursday, as 14 of the top 15 have descended on The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, for a joint venture between the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour.

Power draws

Xander Schauffele (20-1)

The Renaissance Club provides something of a hybrid challenge for the players this week, with a mix of shots that require a links-style approach while also having more target-golf approach shots that those who play stateside should be more comfortable with.

Schauffele can do both. It's hard to say that someone who won his last time out is flying under the radar, but, outside of a missed cut at the Masters, he's lived in the top 20 of stroke-play events this season. At +125 for another, Schauffele is playing well enough to be considered in the echelon of the four players above him on the oddsboard. The only reason he's not sitting next to Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and Matt Fitzpatrick is he doesn't boast a recent major title.

Schauffele finished T10 in the Scottish Open last year and even dropped a 64 just for fun at Adare Manor on Monday during the star-studded pro-am at Ireland's future Ryder Cup site.

Lucas Herbert (60-1)

Admittedly, you're not getting a discount on Herbert to win outright, but that's why we're going to play him in the top-20 market at +260. He's got four such results in his last nine events and shot four rounds in the 60s on the way to a T4 at The Renaissance Club last year. If you think that was just one good week, I'll direct you to the 2020 Scottish Open leaderboard, where Herbert also finished T4. Incredibly, he shot a 79 in round three and still finished two shots off the lead.

Herbert's played in all three majors this year, so he's comfortable in upgraded competition, including a top-20 at the PGA Championship. In good form after a top-10 last week at the Irish Open, he'll be in the mix again this weekend.

Padraig Harrington (250-1)

Last year's Ryder Cup captain isn't going to lap the field like he almost did at the Senior U.S. Open two weeks ago, nor will he win. However, Harrington's work in preparation for his rookie foray into the Champions Tour makes him an interesting top-20 and a matchup play. He's been speed-training to give him an advantage over the older guys, but it's provided some competitive length for the odd time he plays with the lads.

Harrington managed a T30 at the Irish Open last week, despite being responsible for more of an ambassador role in his home country. He's +400 to replicate that against a tougher field and is +700 to get into the top 20 - which he did last year, finishing T18 at 49 years of age.

Soft fades

Adrian Meronk

Meronk has the right strategy for a pro golf career: finish high or fly. He's basically good for either a top-10 or a missed cut. Last week, Meronk struck paydirt with a win in Ireland. Here are his results after top-three contention in the last year-plus: missed cut, T31, missed cut, missed cut, missed cut.

Meronk shot 75 in the first round of the Scottish Open last year and was heading for a missed cut before his high-risk/high-reward style saw him go low in Round 2 to barely make the weekend. He's +125 to miss the cut and worth fading in matchups.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Bezuidenhout's weekend at the John Deere Classic would have been good enough to win most of the time, but J.T. Poston sauntered around TPC Deere Run engulfed in flames for four days. Now Bezuidenhout has to fly to Scotland to compete on a drastically different course against a drastically different quality of players. It feels more like an adjustment week before The Open at the Old Course, and a missed cut (+125) wouldn't be the end of the world for the South African.

Viktor Hovland

Hovland hasn't played since the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut. While his Official World Golf Ranking is still in the top 10, his results since The Players Championship haven't been to that standard. When paired in matchups against other top-20 players, there's ample opportunity to fade Hovland.

Matt Russell is a betting writer for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.