Scottish Open: McIlroy tipped to find form

As with last week’s Irish Open at Portstewart, that means links pedigree and current form could be the defining factor, with four of the world’s top 10 and 16 of the top 50 assembling on the Ayrshire coast.

The 2015 winner Rickie Fowler is a worthy 8/1 favourite and comes into the event on the back of finishing fifth in the US Open and third in the Quicken Loans National, but the first of our Scottish Open betting tips is 11/1 chance Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy missed the cut in the defence of his Irish Open title and admits he sounds like a “broken record” when he insists that he’s close to finding top form, but that early exit at Portstewart could prove a blessing in disguise.

The world number four finally realised that his short game needed some serious attention and after working on his wedge game over the weekend, he could be found on the putting green at Dundonald on Monday afternoon in splendid isolation.

McIlroy also feels he will be able to utilise his driver more than usual at Dundonald and that could be a huge advantage.

While McIlroy was missing the cut last week, Ryder Cup partner Andy Sullivan was rounding nicely into form and the Englishman is our second Scottish Open selection at 40/1.

Sullivan won three times in 2015 and although he has struggled to reproduce that form on a consistent basis since, the 30-year-old followed an opening 72 at Portstewart with three consecutive rounds of 68.

Sullivan was also 13th in France and eighth in Sweden recently and certainly appears to be trending in the right direction.

The same can also be said for the last of our Scottish Open betting tips, with American Daniel Im belying his lowly status with an impressive fourth place last week.

Im threatened to lead from start to finish at Portstewart and only stumbled slightly with a closing 72, but the world number 365 is surprisingly available at 125/1 to carry that good form into this week.