Golf Tips: Best bets for the Scottish Open and ISCO Championship

• Kim can thrive at Renaissance again at 29/130.00

• Van Rooyen has weapons to challenge at 70/171.00

• Soderberg tipped to bounce back at 139/1140.00

• Head to our Euro 2024 HUB for today's best tips and previews!

• Champions Full Gallop - coming soon to ITV

Scottish Open Tips and Predictions

Kim chanced at 29/1

Steve Rawlings: " Being up with the pace is often the place to be at links venues. Unless there's significant rain, the courses tend to get faster and firmer as the week wares on but that hasn't always been the case in this event. We've seen four of the last seven winners come from off the pace and it could very easily have been six from seven...

"It's hard to get away form Korea's Tom Kim, who has finished third and sixth in first two visits to the Renaissance. He also finished runner-up to Brian Harman in the Open Championship last year, so he clearly enjoys links golf and he arrives in decent form.

"He missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last time out but in all probability that was a reaction to his playoff defeat to Scheffler at the Travelers Championship the week before, where he ranked first for Driving Accuracy, Greens In Regulation, Scrambling and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.

"Unusually for Tom, his putting numbers weren't great at TPC River Highlands, but he ranked eighth for Putting Average at the Canadian Open last month, where he finished fourth, and he ranked fourth for PA at the US Open, where he finished 26^th."

Each-Way Tips: Picks from 20/1 to 70/1

Dave Tindall: "Erik Van Rooyen has some strong links performances under his belt and that includes some excellent scores in this event. In 2019 he opened with a pair of 64s to take the halfway lead and was still second with a lap to go before slipping to 14th.

"The following year he returned to finish sixth thanks to a sparkling 65 in round four. He didn't make an impression on the weekend last year but threw in a Friday 63 to jump over 100 places up the leaderboard to 17th and show that he can go low on this par 70.

"'I love links golf,' he said at this event in 2019. 'This is obviously the Home of Golf, Scotland. So yeah, it will be wonderful to get my first win here.'

"It didn't happen that week but he did get over the line later that summer when winning the Scandinavian Invitation. And since then he's really kicked on by banking two PGA Tour wins: the 2021 Barracuda Championship and the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship last November...

"Top 20 for SG: Putting this season, Van Rooyen has plenty of weapons to challenge on turf where he often thrives."

Find Me a 100 Winner: Three chanced between 119/1 and 299/1

Steve Rawlings: "Nobody has ever lost a lead in the final round of a DP World Tour as big as the one Soderberg lost at the Scandinavian Open and that horror show in his homeland may well stay with him for the rest of his career. That's the huge negative. But there's also the possibility that it may not haunt the player.

"Playing in an event this big might even help. He was obviously expected to convert his big lead in Sweden, and he should have won on at least one other occasion so he clearly gets nervous in-the-mix. But when the worst has already happened, and historically it really is the worst, what more can he fear?

"Strong putting has been essential at this venue so at 140.0, I thought Soderberg was worth chancing."

Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.0 & 12 Us @ 2.0

First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 50/1 to 80/1

Dave Tindall: "Thomas Detry is yet to win on either Tour but has had a piece of the first-round lead four times across the two circuits, the most recent earlier this year at another coastal event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

"Detry has enhanced his reputation as a fast starter in recent months by sitting fifth after round one of the US PGA and ninth following the opening lap of the US Open.

"While he's yet to win, this is the course where he's come closest after losing a play-off in 2021. The 31-year-old was fourth after day one of that event after a 66 while last year he opened with a 64, good enough for third place after the first round."

Course and current form stats

Andy Swales: "The Renaissance Club covers a 300-acre site that overlooks the south bank of the Firth of Forth. It was opened in April 2008. Since then its routing has changed, following the purchase of additional land nearby;

"It is a links course that has a little more vegetation than normal, as well as a scarcity of sand dunes. The venue's main defence is its heavily contoured putting surfaces, along with fluctuating coastal wind. There are no large water hazards on the course, although there is the odd ditch...

"Two players who haven't won here, but still have a good record at the course, are Tommy Fleetwood 20/1 and Tom Kim 28/1. Both have also performed well during 2024. Fleetwood stood on the podium at Augusta, having won in the Middle East during January. Although he hasn't contended in recent weeks, he remains consistently strong and his poorest finish in his last six outings is 26th."

ISCO Championship Tips and Predictions

Amateur heads the market in Kentucky

Steve Rawlings: "These opposite field events are very tricky to weigh up as they represent a great chance for struggling older pros to get back on track, as well as being a golden opportunity for up-and-coming players looking to earn the stability of a two-year exemption. And this event now offers up a chance for DP World Tour players to secure a card on the PGA Tour too.

"The late Grayson Murray was only 23 when he won this in 2017 and Norman was 25 last year but Mullinax had just turned 30 when he won here and he edged out the 43-year-old veteran, Streelman, after a ding-dong battle on the back-nine.

"Merritt was winning for a second time on the PGA Tour at the age of 32, Power, although winning for the first time, was 34, Piercy and Baddeley were both 36 when they took the title and Herman was 41, so although it's early days, it's the older pros that have prospered in the main at this event so far. Piercy, Power and Norrman were quite well fancied but this has been a reasonable event for outsiders...

"I don't recall the last time an amateur headed the market before the off at a PGA Tour event. This may even be the first time it's happened. But after his 10^th in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and his tied second on Sunday at the John Deere Classic, the extremely promising youngster Luke Clanton, is the 12/1 jolly here."

Course and current form stats

Andy Swales: "While the elite of world golf have travelled to Scotland to prepare for next week's Open Championship, the lower-ranked members of the two tours have an opportunity to earn dollars in Kentucky.

"Keene Trace has wide tree-lined fairways, while water comes into play on six holes. Both fairways and greens are laid with Bentgrass. The Champions Course made its PGA Tour debut in 2018, but there was no tournament four years ago due to the Covid-pandemic...

"The 45-year-old Kevin Streelman from Illinois might be worth a punt. He's a two-time champ at this level, and was second here two years ago. At 70/1 he could be a decent each-way shout."

Now read Open Championship 2024: Two picks from Dave Tindall in his early look at Royal Troon