{"id":438429,"date":"2026-07-13T12:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=438429"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:52:04","slug":"big-winners-and-losers-from-the-genesis-scottish-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/big-winners-and-losers-from-the-genesis-scottish-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Winners and Losers From the Genesis Scottish Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Genesis Scottish Open<\/a> delivered plenty of surprises ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. While some of the biggest names failed to meet expectations, a few players took full advantage of the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Tom Kim produced the performance of the week to end a winless run of nearly three years. His victory came against one of the strongest fields of the season and gave him fresh confidence heading into the final major of the year.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ:\u00a02026 British Open: Why Scottie Scheffler at +550 Is Not a Slam Dunk<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

The tournament also helped several players secure places in The Open, while others left Scotland with questions to answer after missing out on a golden opportunity.<\/p>\n

Winners<\/h2>\n

1. Tom Kim<\/h4>\n

No player had a better week than Tom Kim. The 24-year-old arrived in Scotland without a win since 2023 and with his confidence under pressure. He changed that with an outstanding performance at The Renaissance Club.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kim shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 in the final round to finish at 17 under and win by two shots. He made just one bogey over his final 51 holes. The victory earned him \u00a31.2 million ($1.575 million) from the tournament’s $9 million purse, along with a place in next year’s Masters.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ:\u00a0Tom Kim Did What Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy Couldn&#8217;t at the Genesis Scottish Open<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Min Woo Lee<\/h4>\n

Lee gave himself a real chance of winning after sharing the lead when the delayed third round ended on Sunday morning. Although he could not match Kim’s finish, he stayed in contention until the end and finished alone in second place, two shots behind the champion. It was another strong result ahead of Royal Birkdale.<\/p>\n

3. Michael Thorbjornsen<\/h4>\n

One of golf’s most highly regarded young talents, Thorbjornsen continued his impressive rise with a tie for seventh at The Renaissance Club. The former Stanford star, who was once one of the world’s top-ranked amateurs, secured his place in next week’s Open Championship with the finish. It marks the American’s first appearance in golf’s oldest major and another significant milestone in what is shaping up to be a breakout season.<\/p>\n

4. Johnny Keefer<\/h4>\n

Keefer enjoyed the breakthrough performance of his young career at the Genesis Scottish Open. The rising American finished third to earn a coveted spot in The Open Championship, where he will make his major debut at Royal Birkdale. For a player still establishing himself on the PGA Tour, it was the biggest result of his career and a major step toward proving he belongs among golf’s emerging stars.<\/p>\n

Losers<\/h2>\n

1. Scottie Scheffler<\/h4>\n

Scheffler arrived as one of the tournament favorites, but his title challenge never materialized. The world No. 1 missed the cut<\/a> after a disappointing second round, ending his streak of 78 consecutive made cuts on the PGA Tour, his first missed cut since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. For a player widely tipped to contend for the title, it was a rare and surprising setback just one week before The Open Championship.<\/p>\n

2. Rory McIlroy<\/h4>\n

McIlroy was in contention for much of the tournament but could not recover from a third-round 73. He closed with an excellent 6-under 64, matching the lowest score of the final round, but the damage had already been done. He finished well behind Kim after starting Sunday with too much ground to make up.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Rory McIlroy Says He and Brian Rolapp Will &#8216;Figure It Out&#8217; Over PGA Tour Minimum<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Robert MacIntyre<\/h4>\n

MacIntyre had the home crowd behind him and began the final round tied for the lead. Many hoped he would win the Scottish Open for the second time, but he could not keep pace with Kim. He finished four shots behind the winner alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

4. Matt Fitzpatrick<\/h4>\n

Fitzpatrick also started Sunday tied for the lead and looked well positioned to challenge for the title. However, he could not build on that position during the final round. Like MacIntyre, he finished four shots behind Kim and missed the chance to carry a victory into the Open Championship.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Alex Slitz\/The Charlotte Observer via ZUMA Press Wire<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Genesis Scottish Open delivered plenty of surprises ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. While some of the biggest names failed to meet expectations, a few players took full advantage of the opportunity. Tom Kim produced the performance of the week to end a winless run of nearly three years. His victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":438432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19],"tags":[8143,180,8218,338,80,8111,34,154,8158],"class_list":["post-438429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pga","tag-genesis-scottish-open","tag-matt-fitzpatrick","tag-michael-thorbjornsen","tag-min-woo-lee","tag-open-championship","tag-robert-macintyre","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-tom-kim"],"modified_by":"Ajayi Segun","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438429"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438435,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438429\/revisions\/438435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}