Will Zalatoris proposes three outright bets

It was a smooth week at the John Deere Classic with JT Poston leading from start to finish and redeeming tickets in the +5000 range.

Now attention turns to the other side of the Atlantic for the Scottish Open, as players get one final vibe ahead of the final Major of the year.

For the first time, the Scot is part of the PGA TOUR calendar, resulting in an even stronger field than usual. Many TOUR players have played in the past anyway to prepare for the Open, but we’re seeing a bigger upswing this year as nine of the world’s top 10 will compete.

Of course

The Renaissance Club is a par 71 measuring just over 7,300 yards. The difficulty depends more on the weather. Bernd Wiesberger won here with 22-under, then Aaron Rai won with 11-under. Min Woo Lee met them about halfway through last year with 18 of them among them.

In recent years, the course has favored the strong iron players. Golfers such as Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Justin Thomas have all appeared in the top 10.

The favourites

It’s basically a three-way tie at the top with Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas all coming in at around +1200. All three played last year and finished in the top 15, so the place is pretty comfortable for them. The shape stays pretty strong for everyone too. That will make it difficult in terms of betting as they are all in good shape to ruin the map, but it’s quite difficult to distinguish between them to play at the top here.

Matthew Fitzpatrick is next at +1800. This will be his first start since winning the US Open and he’s heading for a place that should suit him well. He made a playoff at this event last year before falling to the aforementioned Lee.

The +2000’s are a strong group with Xander Schauffele from his Travelers win, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Smith and Sam Burns. Schauffele and Burns both finished in the top 10 here last year, while Spieth, Cantlay and Smith will make their debuts this week.

The middle school

I’ll start with here Will Zalatoris at +3000 on BetMGM. As mentioned, this was a course where iron players stood out and his have been as good as any over the past year. He played well here last year, finishing 26th, and his form hasn’t been anywhere near where he’s riding this year. He has finished sixth or better in six of his last eight starts.

We’re going too Hideki Matsuyama here at +3400 on FanDuel. He’s another strong iron player in solid form with a fourth-place finish in his last US Open start. This will be his tournament debut and the Open Championship form has been a godsend, but he has some value in that arena.

The long shots

We come here for a game JordanSmith at 130/1 on DraftKings. He’s been one of the best ball forwards in Europe all season. He’s had a lot of Keegan Bradley this year where the irons and driver are solid most weeks but the putter never shows up.

Like last week, when he led the field from tee to green at the Irish Open, but lost almost eight strokes with the putter. We’ll just try him again on that number and hope he finds something on the greens.

The Scottish Open Card

• Will Zalatoris +3000 (1.1 units)
• Hideki Matsuyama +3400 (0.97 units)
• Jordan Smith +13000 (0.25 units)

Total bet: 2.32 units