The Renaissance is a modern golf course built close to some that have been around for centuries, almost since the renaissance in fact, and it's different things to different people. Some will love it, some might hate it; just as some golfers will benefit from playing here prior to the Open, others might be left wishing they'd taken in those nearby links courses or hopped over to Ireland to prepare.
But with sponsors Genesis helping to establish this as the premiere co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, most of those who are eligible have taken the opportunity to follow the path of Collin Morikawa and Cam Smith, in the hope that it will reach the same destination. Morikawa's chastening Scottish Open experience directly impacted his set-up before Royal St George's, while Smith's strong weekend primed him for St Andrews.
Jon Rahm is the main exception and in his absence, the other members of golf's big three are hard to split at the front of the betting, but it's quite right that Scottie Scheffler has just about taken over. We could spend all day analysing the incongruousness of a truly stunning run of ball-striking which has yielded just one trophy, but let's keep things simple: from tee-to-green, there is daylight between him and the rest, Rahm and Rory included.
While McIlroy has an ace up his sleeve next week in the shape of the course, he didn't like The Renaissance when he first saw it and it's a bit of a surprise he's back. Perhaps he recalls the Thursday 64 he carded in this event in 2014 and how ready he was to put everything together seven days later at Hoylake. Perhaps he's just run out of credits in these big events and couldn't sit out another one.
As for the dynamics of the Scottish Open in its new guise, last year probably told us plenty. Seven of the top nine were PGA Tour members and one of just two exceptions, Tom Kim, would soon become one. Jamie Donaldson, a veteran DP World Tour regular, was the outlier; his storming weekend never had him in the mix, but rewarded each-way backers at a massive price.
And you can go fishing for something similar again. There's rain and a fresh breeze waiting for players in North Berwick, and just as my colleague Andy Schooler always points out on the eve of a Grand Slam tennis tournament, the best players don't necessarily need an excuse to go through the motions. Many of them won't really care whether they leave here with a trophy or even a cheque, providing they feel prepared for the final major of 2023.
Strength in numbers, and we're talking real strength, means that we may nevertheless get an elite winner to follow Xander Schauffele. The top 25 players in the betting are PGA Tour members and whomever among them builds a platform will be focused singularly on this title come Sunday, especially with the money that's now up for grabs. The difficulty, as ever, is in working out which of them it might be.
To my eye it's SHANE LOWRY who stands out as the best value at 33/1.
Although it's Lowry's course debut, that's accounted for in the price and he does have a strong record in the Scottish Open, finishing fourth at Royal Aberdeen, contending to a point at both Gullane and Castle Stuart, and finishing seventh inland at the altogether different Loch Lomond.
Throw in several excellent performances in the Dunhill Links, plus wins in the Irish Open and the Open itself, and we know that Lowry is one of the world's best links golfers. The Renaissance may not quite be links in the purest sense, but it's a decent modernist impression and conditions will bring it closer to the style he so enjoys.
Lowry also arrives in rock-solid form. Four of his last five appearances have resulted in top-20 finishes, two of them in majors, and he's offered encouragement virtually every time he's played since an early-season blip which prompted a change in caddie and briefly required a period of bedding-in with his new one.
Much was made of that missed cut in a weak field, more than had been made of his top-10 finish in a strong one just days earlier. Remember, Thomas produced his best approach work and short-game stats of the entire year at the Travelers, clicking into gear after a slow start and leaving with plenty of positives.
Then came the first round in Detroit, where he hit 13 out of 14 fairways but was hopeless whenever he missed a green. It was an utterly bizarre display, reminiscent in fact of his 2020 Travelers effort which he followed with a play-off defeat, yet despite it he ranks 12th for the season in strokes-gained around the green.
Homa made a big Saturday move here last year before eventually settling for 16th, and that's despite a strange display with his irons. He was in fact the best driver in the field but among the worst in strokes-gained approach, typically the strongest part of his game.
It was clear nevertheless how much he enjoyed the experience and how much appreciation he has for playing here in Scotland. As Thomas had done in 2019, Homa found time between rounds to head over to North Berwick for 18 holes with friends, an experience he felt he couldn't miss out on.
Herbert isn't a player we can ever fully rely on, but he has absolutely everything in his favour here, whether that's form, conditions, the course, his class or his short-game. The very straightforward case in his favour has few holes.
I'll start with his class, because I think that's the most relevant part of the argument. Herbert very quickly became a PGA Tour winner after earning his card, and look what happens when he comes back: his form away from that circuit reads 10-3-3-1 since he was forced to withdraw from the Australian PGA with an injury.
Before that he'd gone 18-21-9-MC-15-MC-5-23 from January 2021 to the December 2022 and on the DP World Tour, he's now won three of his last 30-odd events, taking in the Dubai Desert Classic, Irish Open, and ISPS Handa Championship in Japan earlier this year, where he defied jet-lag to edge to a narrow victory.
Fox was a bit of a disappointment both here and in the Open in 2022 but let's not forget he was in the middle of a busy run and desperate to make the Presidents Cup. The New Zealander would later confess that he was running on fumes by the time of the Open so we can forgive him a lacklustre Scottish Open, too.
It's possible he's just not that fond of The Renaissance but it's still early days given his jolt of improvement over the past 18 months, and if we go back further in this event's history he has a couple of top-six finishes to go with a play-off defeat in the Irish Open, part of a strong seaside CV.
Noren was 30th on his debut at The Renaissance last year and is probably playing a little better now, having followed 12th back home in Sweden with a narrow missed cut at the US Open, then ninth place in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Throughout the past month his approach work has returned to something like the levels we saw when he chased home Fox at St Andrews, then finished second again in the DP World Tour Championship, and began 2023 with fifth place at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi.
Noren's DP World Tour form reads 2-2-5-12 since this event last year and the fundamentals of his game are back firing, with those improved displays with his irons complemented by typically assured putting, and a season-long ranking of eighth in strokes-gained around the green.
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