Robert Rock leads the Scottish Open, Rickie Fowler lurks

Xander Schauffele is playing the Scottish Open for the first time this week. He’s also making his first start as a married man after marrying longtime girlfriend Maya Lowe in Las Vegas a week after the U.S. Open. His two weeks overseas won’t serve as a honeymoon, however. “No offense to anyone here but I would not choose a place that rains so much to take my honeymoon,” Schauffele said Tuesday in his pre-tournament press conference. “It’s been a long time coming. … We’ve been together for quite some time and decided to make it public. We’re very happy.” Schauffele posted a photo from his wedding on his Instagram account on Monday. The wedding party included the couple’s French bulldog, who was wearing a tuxedo. Schauffele’s best Open Championship finish came in Scotland, after he finished runner-up three years ago in Carnoustie. Schauffele usually comes to the United Kingdom a week early with his family to get acclimated to the time zone. Because of COVID protocols, he decided to play the Scottish Open instead. He’s traveling with his caddie, former college teammate Austin Kaiser. “I’ve been hanging in there,” Schauffele said. “I just had to wake up my caddie. He’s staying with me and he was dozing off on the couch in a robe. We’re hanging in and trying to do our best of staying outside as long as possible and just going day-to-day. “I brought a few extra books for myself to read, so I’ve been taking the downtime as a positive.” Schauffele is eighth in this season’s FedExCup standings. He does not have a win but has finished in the top 25 in 14 of his 17 starts this season, including three runners-up. He is coming off a seventh-place finish in the U.S. Open in his hometown of San Diego. Four of the top five players in the world are playing in the Scottish Open this week: Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Schauffele.

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Graeme McDowell & Seamus Power (+4000) … A year ago, Power was slotted No. 10 in my Power Rankings with David Hearn. The duo finished T10 in 2018 and T5 in 2019. However, the Irishman tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew before the tournament. Since, he’s gone on to connect for victory at the Barbasol Championship, climb into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and play in the Masters, all career-firsts as he’s turned 35 in March. G-Mac also isn’t a stranger to TPC Louisiana, nor does he mind playing the field for partners among fellow Europeans. The native of Northern Ireland finished T22 with Ian Poulter in 2018, T18 with Henrik Stenson in 2019 and T23 with Matt Wallace in 2021, all of whom are in this week’s field. Since Bay Hill, McDowell is 3-for-6 with a pair of top 25s. Brian Stuard & Russell Knox (+6600) … Beneath the sparkle of the notable teams at TPC Louisiana is a layer of sturdy threats. That’s where these two exist. Stuard’s only PGA TOUR victory (among 175 paydays in 305 starts) occurred on this course in 2016. He was the last individual to prevail before the format evolved into the current. Stuard and Knox first joined forced for a T22 in 2019. They missed the cut last year when the Scot was scuffling. However, since the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February, they are a combined 15-for-18 with three top 10s among five top 25s. Stuard sits second on the PGA TOUR in fairways hit; Knox is second in GIR. Knox is T12 in proximity to the hole, and Stuard is T12 in par-3 scoring. Aaron Rai & David Lipsky (+8000) … Of the 25 PGA TOUR rookies in the field, 14 have partnered with another to form seven all-rookie collaborations. These two are among them. Quietly, they might be the most compelling as neither is a stranger to success abroad even though each happens to still qualify as a rookie. Each has two wins on the DP WORLD Tour among their collection of global gets. So, it matters not that each is a debutant at TPC Louisiana. They’re also one of just the two partnerships among rookies in which both are inside the top 125 of the FedExCup. Rai is 98th; Lipsky is 119th. The strong suit for both is ball-striking. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM.

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THE OVERVIEW By Cameron Morfit, PGATOUR.COM To say that last season was “a transitional yearâ€� for the former No. 1 would be cutting it a bit short. The four-time major winner McIlroy, 28, switched out his equipment in the wake of Nike’s decision to get out of the hard-goods business (more on that shortly); married former PGA of America employee Erica Stoll; changed caddies, parting with J.P. Fitzgerald in order to preserve their friendship; and bought Ernie Els’s old house at the Bear’s Club.  TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule Otherwise, it was pretty much business as usual. Oh, and McIlroy was injured, a lingering back/rib ailment that came and went all season. More than anything else, that explains how, just one year after winning the FedExCup, McIlroy had six top-10 finishes but failed to add to his total of 13 career PGA TOUR victories. The trouble started early. McIlroy’s back was taped and he was running on anti-inflammatories as he lost a playoff to Graeme Storm at the BMW South Africa Open in January. A scan showed a stress-fracture in one of his ribs, which apparently was the result of testing out too much new equipment in the off-season, and he withdrew from the Abu Dhabi Championship. Another near-miss at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, where a three-putt bogey on 18 left him with a T4 finish, seemed to suggest he was back to his old self, but that was misleading. Although he had two more T4s, including at The Open at Royal Birkdale, McIlroy wasn’t 100 percent all season, finishing 58th in the FedExCup after making just 14 starts.  Now 10th in the world, he will try to get off to a fast start in 2018 with a robust early-season schedule. He’ll start his TOUR season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and at one point play five out of six weeks. He’s got some catching up to do. BY THE NUMBERS How Rory McIlroy ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR. FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: N/A Playoff appearances: 7 TOUR Championship appearances: 4 Best result: Won (2016) INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Rory McIlroy in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Ben Everill One of the most fascinating storylines of the season shapes to be how Rory responds from a so-so 2017. The last time he was winless on the PGA TOUR in 2013, he responded with a three-win season, including two majors. Injury was a legitimate excuse for much of the year, but if he’s healthy again, then the pressure will be on to push Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Co. and prove he’s far from a spent force. Pencil in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for his TOUR season debut after his customary Middle East swing. Click here to follow Ben on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton One of the salary bargains ($2.43 million) of the season will have rested and recovered from lingering soreness from a rib injury for over three months before returning to competition in January. Looking ahead, gamers love that conviction because we can grow tired of one of our charges grinding to one forgettable finish after another with persistent discomfort. He doesn’t need any more motivation than to polish off the career grand slam at the Masters, but you know he’ll be hungry to contend early and often in 2018. It’s also a Ryder Cup year, which has proven to bring out his best as he finished inside the top three in the FedExCup in each of the last three even-numbered years. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall McIlroy made a surprise move to TaylorMade during the middle of the season at THE PLAYERS Championship. Complete bag overhaul saw him add TaylorMade M2 woods, including the more compact Tour 3- and 5-wood. Was the first staffer to use the P730 “Rors Proto” blade. Depending on the course setup and conditions, McIlroy will use a Tour Preferred UDI 1-iron he carries 280-plus. Rotated putters before settling on a TP Collection Juno. The No. 22 stamped on his TaylorMade TP5x golf ball is the day (4/22) he got married.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte Rory is one of the fittest players on TOUR, making him a perfect fit for Nike’s golfers-are-athletes approach to golf fashion. He’ll continue to be outfitted in the latest and greatest from Nike in the New Year. In October, he laced up the new Nike Lunar Control Vapor 2 shoe, which will be his go-to shoe in 2018. Look for him to receive custom colorways and personal editions of the shoe for the majors. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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