Rickie at Renaissance – Scottish Open Success?

7 July 2023

We’re only days away now until the PGA tour visits The Renaissance Club for The Genesis Scottish Open.

The field is filled with superstars, testament to the respect players hold for golf in Scotland.

Eight of the World’s Top 10 will compete at North Berwick: Scheffler, McIlroy, Cantlay, Hovland, Schauffele, Homa, Fitzpatrick, and Spieth

Players you can count on to bring the noise, with previous winners featuring and potentially soon to be champions, these guys are never far away from the top of the leaderboard. However, in the previous winners list, there is a man who has found form once again – Rickie Fowler.

Fowler joins eight previous winners at the Renaissance Club; Schauffle 2022, Min Woo Lee 2021, Rai 2020, Stone 2018, Cabrerra-Bello 2017, Noren 2016, Fowler 2015, and Rose 2014. 

Having won the event previously, and finding the winners circle again at the Rocket Mortgage Classic recently, Rickie could be looking to continue this form.

Over the last couple of seasons, Rickie had lost his game somewhat but the golfing world seems to be getting behind Rickie as he finds his game again and plays the quality golf we know he can. 

Looking at the stats

With these stats we can see that Rickie’s game is in a great place, I am not sure if they have figured out how to measure momentum yet but if there is one player with lots of it, it’s Rickie!

Ironically, two years ago Rickie was ranked outside the top 150 [in the World Rankings] at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and then went on to win that event the following year – his first win in over four years! He also shot an incredible -10 under Par, 60, at the Travelers Championship in June. 

What stats stand out?

Regardless of venue, the players that feature on Sunday, typically, have putted well throughout the event – this isn’t expert analysis. However, Rickie historically has been a very strong putter and with his Jailbird setup, something of urban legend, he seems to have found the secret. 

Across the various Strokes Gained measurements, Rickie ranks 8th in overall Strokes Gained, testament to his form of late. Despite having a Driving Accuracy Percentage of nearly 60%, this is only 2% above Tour average. So Fowler does not gain a huge amount off the tee.

However, Tee to Green and Approaches to Green Rickie ranks in the Top 10 meaning that if he can keep himself out of trouble off the tee, he has a great chance to score.

The Renaissance Club has five Par 3s, a strong aspect of Rickie’s game – 3rd in Par 3 scoring average. 

When combined with his GIR% and Putting Average, we could see some Strokes Gained on these holes. 

It is shaping up to be a tournament to remember and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Rickie in contention on Sunday afternoon.

If you want to gain insight into your game like a Professional, visit shotscope.com where products like the PRO LX+ and X5 GPS Watch offer subscription free performance tracking.

Former Professional golfer and current Shot Scope Chief Commercial Officer Gavin Dear played against Rickie in the 2009 Walker Cup and could see that he was a force to be reckoned with.

A talented golfer himself, Gavin has 5 Worldwide Professional wins as well being part of the winning 2008 Eisenhower Trophy team. With his knowledge and skill as a player, you can trust that when Shot Scope say we are founded by golfers, for golfers – we mean it.

All stats shown via PGA Tour