The DP World Tour returns to The Renaissance Club this week for the Genesis Scottish Open, co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR for the first time, as the third Rolex Series event of the 2022 season is staged. Here are your five things to know.
Min Woo defends
Min Woo Lee claimed his maiden Rolex Series title with a play-off victory over Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry at Scotland’s national open last year.
The Australian, who began the final round three shots adrift of co-leaders Fitzpatrick and Detry, carded six successive birdies from the third in his flawless 64 at The Renaissance Club to reach 18 under after thunder and lightning had resulted in a 90-minute delay midway through the back nine for the late starters.
After coming up inches short with a birdie putt on the par-four 18th green, Lee sealed his second Tour title when the trio returned to play the closing hole in sudden death as he holed from ten feet for birdie in North Berwick.
The 23-year-old has since made his debut at each of the year’s opening three Major Championships, equalling the lowest-ever front nine at Augusta National of six-under-par 30 in the final round.
Lee, whose first Tour title came at the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open, is aiming to become the first person to successfully defend the title, and only the third multiple winner following Ian Woosnam (1987, 1990, 1996) and Ernie Els (2000, 2003).
The defending champion has arrived @Minwoo27Lee 👍#GenesisScottishOpen | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/LWtigFEiWw
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 4, 2022
Return of the Rolex Series
The Genesis Scottish Open is the third of five Rolex Series events in the 2022 DP World Tour schedule and provides the ideal build-up to next week’s Open Championship.
The Rolex Series, one of the most important initiatives in the DP World Tour's history, has included Scotland’s national open since its inaugural year in 2017.
The opening two events of 2022 have already provided plenty of drama and two worthy champions, with Thomas Pieters and Viktor Hovland claiming maiden Rolex Series titles in January at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic respectively.
The Rolex Series will continue at the BMW PGA Championship in September before it heads to Dubai in November at the $10million DP World Tour Championship – the first DP World Tour event in history outside the Majors and World Golf Championships to feature an eight-figure prize fund.
Co-sanctioning of event, result of strategic alliance with PGA TOUR
The Genesis Scottish Open is the first event to be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR.
The historic Strategic Alliance between the two Tours was announced in November 2020 and strengthened through to 2035 last week.
The tournament in East Lothian will count towards both the DP World Tour Rankings and the FedExCup.
The event benefits from the continued commitment of the Scottish Government, managed by VisitScotland, and also includes three tournament invites and three players from the Korean Professional Golfers Association.
The event also forms part of The Open Qualifying Series, which means the leading three players not otherwise exempt who finish in the top 10 and ties at The Renaissance Club will secure their spot at The 150th Open Championship.
Major Champions headline stellar field
The 40th edition of Scotland’s national Open features the strongest field ever assembled, including 14 of the top 15 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and all four current Major Champions – Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Collin Morikawa.
Joining them are fellow Major Champions Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth, while Rolex Series winners Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood and Billy Horschel highlight the strength in depth of the entry list.
Cameron Smith, winner of The Players this year, Chile’s Joaquín Niemann and American PGA TOUR star Sam Burns are also in the field for the event, which was first staged in 1972.
First year of Genesis as title partner
Scotland’s national open boasts a new title sponsor this year in Genesis, the luxury automotive brand from South Korea.
Genesis has been involved with golf ever since the brand first launched onto the global stage in 2015.
It has existing sponsorships at the Genesis Invitational on the PGA TOUR, the Genesis Championship on the Korean Tour, and the biennial Presidents Cup, played in alternating years with the Ryder Cup.
The first player to make a hole-in-one at the par-three 17th will win a Genesis for both himself and his caddy. The player’s prize will be the new Genesis Electrified GV70, while the caddy will receive the new all-electric Genesis GV60.
The title sponsor is also awarding the winner of this year’s tournament a GV70.
