This week of the PGA Tour will be power-packed, with the 156 top players from the American and European sides teeing up at North Berwick, Renaissance Club for the 6th Genesis Scottish Open. The PGA Tour will also have 156 fields of other Tour pros in Kentucky for the ISCO Championship, simultaneously held alongside the Scottish Open.

The fans will have double fun watching almost the entirety of the PGA Tour pros in a great tussle. Regardless, coming to the Scottish Open, the field has many stars highlighting, though the world no. 1, Scottie Scheffler will be missing, the two-time champion, Rory McIlroy has returned and so have other players like Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, and many more. However, only one will take the silverware home.

Five of 156 players who may win the Genesis Scottish Open

1. Rory McIlroy: The Northern Irishman missed the last putt at Pinehurst No. 2 to miss the chance of breaking his brutal decade-long streak of going without a major. Although Rory McIlroy has already won two times in the 2024 season, he triumphed at the Zurich Classic in his debut with Shane Lowry and then again at the Wells Fargo Championship, carding his record fourth win at the event.

McIlroy has surely found his form, making the top 10 in five events so far and the top 25 in twelve of the 14 events he played. The world no. 2, as the defending champion, will give the 155 pros at Renaissance Club a run for their money and would not that easily lose the prestigious trophy that he has won two times before.

2. Xander Schauffele: The 2024 season has been one of the best for Xander Schauffele. The 30-year-old carded his first major victory at Valhalla, winning the PGA Championship which helped him climb to the second spot on the OWGR rankings, the best rank in his career. Though the rank has changed, Schuaffele’s form probably has not.

Interestingly, the California native has played 16 events in the 2024 season, and finished in the top 25 in fifteen of them, out of which he was inside the top 10s in 11! Schauffele has not missed any cuts this year and has made a record 50 consecutive cuts streak. Talk about ticking all the right boxes, McIlroy will have a great opponent at hand, as Schauffele has tasted the victory on Renaissance too.

3. Ludvig Aberg: No one would have expected such an exponential rise of the 23-year-old Swede pro in just his second year on the PGA Tour. Ludvig Aberg was inches closer to carding his first major victor at the 88th Masters, as he finished solo second and was just four strokes away from the winner. He had also finished runner-up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, eyeing his second PGA Tour win.

Notably, the 1-time PGA Tour winner has recorded six top-10s while missing only one cut from the 14 events he has played. Aberg has been frequently in contention on the American Greens; the one in Europe might just be it to favor his second PGA Tour victory.

4. Collin Morikawa: The world no. 6 has been chasing his seventh victory on the PGA Tour since he gained momentum after a T75 finish at the Valero Texas Open. Since then, Collin Morikawa has finished in the top 25 all the time. In his last nine starts, the 6-time PGA Tour winner finished five times inside the top 10, including a runner-up finish at the Memorial Tournament.

Additionally, he also carded four top 25s, his most recent was at the Travelers Championship, where Morikawa finished T13 on the leaderboard. Needless to say, the 27-year-old is in his best form as of late and may trend better at the Renaissance Club.

5. Aaron Rai: After getting his PGA Tour card, the English pro did not experience immediate success. However, recently, Rai started excelling on the PGA Tour and found himself in contention for the titles. In the last four starts of the 29-year-old, he sort of got the hold of his game and successfully put up two top 20s and two top 10s. The better one was the T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, followed by a T7 finish at the TPC Deere Run.

And coming to the Renaissance Club, Rai might climb to the top of the leaderboard as he was the winner of the event in 2020 when it was known as the Aberdeen Scottish Open and not a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. As a former champion, the English pro is fairly aware of the ups and downs at the Renaissance Club and knows how to be victorious in the end.

The enormous sum offered at the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open

The Genesis Scottish Open was the first of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s co-sanctioned events after the two collaborated on the strategic alliance. Since then, the Scottish Open has offered, comparatively, way larger purse than many DP World Tour events. This year as well, there will be a $9 million prize purse on the line, $1 million more than when Schauffele won in 2022.

The winner will bag $1.58 million on top of that 500 FedExCup points before the FedExCup playoffs begin. The 156 players’ field will be in a tough battle as a good performance at the Genesis Scottish Open will not only increase their career earnings but also prove to be a huge momentum booster for the 152nd Open Championship.

With just two more days for the Scottish Open to start, share your predictions for the winner in the comments.