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Golf Monthly

Sport

Matt Cradock

Genesis Scottish Open 2025 First Round Leader Picks: Could These 2 European Stars Come Out The Blocks Fast?

Ludvig Aberg Harry Hall the PGA Tour the Genesis Scottish Open Ben Griffin Links (Facility) Robert MacIntyre Rory McIlroy Scottie Scheffler Sungjae I

Ludvig Aberg hits a tee shot on the first tee.

The big names of the PGA Tour head to The Renaissance Club and the Genesis Scottish Open, with several stars teeing it up in the DP World Tour's Rolex Series event.

Among those are World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, five-time Major winner Rory McIlroy and defending Champion Golfer of the Year Xander Schauffele, who will head to Royal Portrush and The 153rd Open Championship next week looking to secure back-to-back Claret Jugs.

Robert MacIntyre returns to defend his title at North Berwick (Image credit: Getty Images)

Being on a Links layout, it will be a different test to what we have seen on the PGA Tour for the majority of the season but, with such a star-studded field and near perfect weather conditions, scoring could well be lower than we've seen previously.

Moving to The Renaissance Club in 2019, winning scores at the Genesis Scottish Open have varied from 22-under-par to seven-under-par. However, one aspect that has remained consistent in the six tournaments is the first round scoring, which has been incredibly low.

Being a par 70, first round scores of 63, 62, 64, 61, 61 and 62 have been enough for players to lead at the end of play Thursday, showing that individuals aren't afraid to get out of the blocks quickly in North Berwick.

Sungjae Im led after the first round of the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open, carding a seven-under 63 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Because first round scoring has been so low, there are a number of factors that need to be considered, such as first round scoring average, total number of birdies and total rounds in the 60s so far this year.

Taking all of these into account, who do I think has the best chance of leading the Genesis Scottish Open after 18 holes?

Ludvig Aberg (+5000)

Admittedly Aberg's form has been slightly hit-and-miss the last few months, but even without his best stuff he's finished seventh at The Masters, as well as T16 at the Memorial Tournament and T13 at the RBC Canadian Open.

Returning to a course where he finished T4 last year, Aberg fired a six-under 64 in the first round at The Renaissance Club in 2024, which put him one shot back of Sungjae Im at the time.

Even when he missed the cut here in 2023, which was just his fifth professional start, the Swede carded rounds of 71 and 68, so course-form should not be an issue for the 25-year-old.

Another positive is that, looking at a correlating event in the Farmers Insurance Open, Aberg led after the first round at Torrey Pines. Although he battled illness that week, he did return at the Genesis Invitational, played on the same course, to win his first Signature Event.

Aberg may be struggling for form of late but, on a course where you need to be strong off the tee, an area where the Ryder Cup star excels (13th in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee), I believe this is the week where he turns it around and puts in a strong performance.

Harry Hall (+8000)

We are big fans of Harry Hall and, at the Genesis Scottish Open, we expect the Englishman's excellent form in 2025 to continue at The Renaissance Club.

Looking at the stats, there's plenty of very positive angles that lead to a Hall first round lead. For example, the 27-year-old has the most rounds in the 60s on the PGA Tour with 43, five more than Ryan Gerard and Ben Griffin with 38.

Secondly, 54 sub-par rounds also tops the standings in that category and, for even further evidence, Hall has the most birdies on the PGA Tour in 2025, producing 313, which is seven more than Griffin in second. Those are very promising signs...

However, the reason why I'm backing him is recent form and Links experience. Having grown up and played at West Cornwall Golf Club, he has been around Links golf for the majority of his life and, just recently, he qualified for The Open Championship at Burnham and Berrow.

Getting those early competitive reps in can only help Hall's cause and, with his game trending with 10 top 25s in 19 starts, he looks good odds to go low in Scotland.