Steve Palmer's Scottish Open predictions and free golf betting tips

When to bet 

By 7.15am on Thursday

Where to watch the Scottish Open

Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Golf from 8am on Thursday

Steve Palmer's Scottish Open predictions

Min Woo Lee
2.5pts each-way 33-1 general

Lucas Herbert
2pts each-way 55-1 Hills

Thorbjorn Olesen
1pt each-way 200-1 Hills

Nicolai Hojgaard
1pt each-way 125-1 Hills

Grant Forrest
0.5pt each-way 400-1 BoyleSports

Matthew Jordan
0.5pt each-way 200-1 general

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The Open Championship is on the mind of the elite, with all roads leading to Royal Liverpool next week for the final Major of the season, but several superstars are using the Scottish Open as a warm-up event.

Jon Rahm is the only member of the world's top six who is skipping the Scottish Open. Scottie Scheffler, who missed the cut at the Renaissance Club last year, looks a short price for victory this time, while Rory McIlroy's dislike of the course makes him an unattractive option. McIlroy has said in the past that the Renaissance is too easy and is poor preparation for the Open.

Steve Palmer's top tip

Min Woo Lee 33-1

The 2021 Scottish Open champion at the Renaissance will be licking his lips at the prospect of repeating the trick. Min Woo Lee is a fantastic player in windy conditions and possesses all the shots required for succeeding in this week's forecast breeze.

Lee is full of confidence, having finished 18th in the US PGA Championship, fifth in the US Open and ninth in the Travelers Championship. Jet-lagged and jaded, he made a slow start in the British Masters, but a strong weekend meant 15th place.

Fresh from a week off, in which he visited Yorkshire to watch some Ashes cricket, Lee can be expected to get straight back down to business at a track which sets up wonderfully for him. The Australian can show off his exquisite touch around these heavily contoured Renaissance greens.

Next best bet

Lucas Herbert 55-1

An Aussie one-two seems entirely feasible, with Lucas Herbert well capable of joining Lee on the leaderboard. Herbert also relishes breezy conditions and he won the 2021 Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour under extremely windy skies.

Herbert finished fourth in the 2020 Scottish Open at the Renaissance, then fourth again the following year, so his affection for this assignment is obvious. It is an ideal place to show off his short-game skills.

Herbert has won three times on the DP World Tour, most recently in Japan in April, and 15th place in the Travelers Championship last time out was a timely return to form.

Other selections

Thorbjorn Olesen 200-1
Nicolai Hojgaard 125-1
Grant Forrest 400-1
Matthew Jordan 200-1

Seven-time DPWT champion Thorbjorn Olesen has been shunted out to enormous odds after missing the cut by a shot in the Made In HimmerLand last week. It seems an overreaction about a player who has been generally excellent this season.

Olesen, who won the 2015 Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, won the Thailand Classic in February and has finished in the top 20 in seven of his last 11 tournaments. He was 15th in the British Masters the week before last.

Nicolai Hojgaard also fell a shot shy of the cut line in Denmark last week, but the 22-year-old can be expected to bounce straight back to form in Scotland. Hojgaard finished 21st in the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour the week before Himmerland, so had excuses for being sluggish after trekking home from Detroit.

The last time Rasmus Hojgaard won on the DPWT, his twin won the following week, and it would come as no surprise should Rasmus's Himmerland success spark Scottish Open glory for Nicolai, who has been producing some spectacular golf this year.

The even juicier prices about Grant Forrest and Matthew Jordan also appeal. Forrest lives in East Lothian and is the touring pro for the Renaissance, which is his practice base, and he finished second in an Open Final Qualifying event there in 2017.

Forrest made his DPWT breakthrough on a links track in Scotland, winning the 2021 Hero Cup at Fairmont St Andrews, and he was tenth in the Dunhill Links last year. The local lad is enjoying a solid campaign, with tenth place in Abu Dhabi followed by sixth in Singapore, fourth in Japan and eighth in the Netherlands, and he can bank another healthy cheque on Sunday.

Jordan has always excelled on links terrain, winning the St Andrews Links Trophy as an amateur and then the Lytham Trophy by nine shots, and he has been a member of Royal Liverpool from the age of seven. Desperate to qualify for the Hoylake showpiece, he teed up in Final Qualifying at West Lancashire GC last week and carded rounds of 65 and 69 to finish second, bravely booking his ticket to a hometown Open.

Jordan, who has posted six top-20s on the DPWT this year, closed with a 65 for 17th place in the Made In HimmerLand on Sunday and is riding the crest of a wave.

Renaissance Club course guide

Course The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
Prize money $9m ($1.5m to the winner)
Length 7,237 yards
Par 70 – three par-fives; ten par-fours; five par-threes
Field 156 The cut Top 65 and ties qualify for round three
Highest-ranked players in field (world ranking in brackets) Scottie Scheffler (1), Rory McIlroy (3), Patrick Cantlay (4), Viktor Hovland (5), Xander Schauffele (6)
Course records - 72 holes 262 Bernd Wiesberger (2019) 18 holes 61 Bernd Wiesberger (2019), Cameron Tringale (2022)

Course winners taking part Aaron Rai, Min Woo Lee, Xander Schauffele

When to bet By 7.15am on Thursday

When to watch Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Golf from 8am on Thursday

Last week – Made In HimmerLand 1 R Hojgaard (22-1), 2 N Elvira (300-1), 3 R Ramsay (70-1), T4 A Bjork (18-1), R MacIntyre (25-1), K Samooja (80-1), M Warren (200-1)

Course type Links

Course overview The Renaissance Club, which opened in 2008, was designed by Tom Doak. It made its Scottish Open debut in 2019, hosting every year since. Three holes run directly along the Firth of Forth, but this is not a pure links test, with some trees in strategic fairway and greenside positions. Heavily contoured greens are the main defence of the course

Story of last year Xander Schauffele edged Kurt Kitayama by a shot in tough conditions. Schauffele's 273 total was 11 shots inferior to the 262 managed by Bernd Wiesberger and Benjamin Hebert in the 2019 edition

Weather forecast Pre-tournament rain looks set to soften the course, but three breezy competition days (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) should challenge the players

Type of player suited to the challenge A strong short game is a great asset on and around tricky greens, but an ability to handle windy weather seems the most important attribute this week

Key attribute Touch/putting

Spotlight insight 

Only one of the last 12 Scottish Open winners was a DP World Tour maiden

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