#xanderschauffele

Xander Schauffele is built for clean golf.

That is exactly why Riviera is such a nasty test.

The fairways do not always look terrifying. That is the trick. Riviera gives players just enough room to trust the driver, then punishes the wrong side of the hole like a hidden trap. One ball drifts into Kikuyu rough and suddenly a normal iron shot turns into a fight.

For Schauffele, this is not about wild misses.

It is about inches.

A drive can look fine from the tee and still leave the wrong angle. A lie can look playable until the club gets swallowed. A par can turn into stress before the crowd even realizes what happened.

That is Riviera’s whole personality. Quiet danger. Bad angles. No mercy for a player who misses in the wrong place.

Schauffele has the patience to survive it.

The golfing world is in Scotland for the Scottish Open 2022, before the eyes of the sports world turn to St. Andrews and the 150th edition of The Open Championship. But before golf plays its final major of the season, the Renaissance Club hosts the Scottish Open for the fourth time in the tournament’s existence. And in the previous three outings, we have seen some very good scores come from the leaderboard, including a 22-under par from Bernd Wiesberger in 2019.

Favorites to Win the Scottish Open

- Jon Rahm (+1200) - Justin Thomas (+1400) - Scottie Scheffler (+1400) - Xander Schauffele (+1800) - Matt Fitzpatrick (+2000) - Collin Morikawa (+2500) - Patrick Cantlay (+2500) - Cameron Smith (+2800) - Sam Burns (+2800) - Will Zalatoris (+2800) This weekend’s tournament features 14 of the top 15 players in the world, and it’s one of the few co-sanctioned events between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which contributes to being such a strong field just one week before The Open Championship. As with most links courses in Scotland, the fairways are nice and wide, meaning that distance off the tee is more important than accuracy off the tee. The number one player in the world over his last 12 rounds in driving distance is Jon Rahm, who, not surprisingly, is the betting favorite here. Getting close to the pins on approach, however, will prove to be difficult. Bunkers will be a factor, as will greens that feature a number of hills. And when it comes to strokes gained on approach, three of the top five golfers in the world over the last 12 rounds are on this Scottish Open favorites board. Xander Schauffele is second in the world, Cameron Smith is third, and Sam Burns is fifth. Recent U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is also in the mix, and even though his best-ever Open finish was a T20 in 2019, the Englishman is back on his home island, and he has to be considered a top favorite.

Best Value Plays

A couple of DP World Tour players who you may not be familiar with highlight our best value plays of the weekend. First is Ryan Fox, paying +4000. The New Zealander currently ranks fourth in the European Tour, and he was just the runner-up last week at the Irish Open, shooting a 64 on Sunday to take home the title. Aaron Rai at +6600 is also someone worth a closer look. He was the winner at Scottish Open in 2020 on this course, and that was when the weather conditions were less than ideal. And when it comes to strokes gained on par 4’s between 450 and 500 yards - of which there are five on this course - Rai has been the best in the world over his last 12 rounds.

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