For some players, a victory on Tour is effectively mission accomplished and it’s time to celebrate and put their feet up for a few weeks. Not so for last week’s winner Russell Knox though who knows that his success in Ireland is only a stepping stone towards his ultimate goal of making Thomas Bjorn’s Ryder Cup team and he needs to keep his foot to the floor if he’s going to make the team on merit. Having missed out on a Captain’s pick in 2016, the in-form Scot will know that no chances can be taken when it comes to booking his place in Paris in September, “To make that team, obviously you have to win tournaments. Great start, obviously, this week. Last week, as well. But I mean, this is not good enough. I need to hammer down and I’m going to have to make that team in order to go to France,” he said after his near identical pair of 40-foot putts got him over the line last week against an unlucky Ryan Fox.

The 33 year-old has played a lot of golf recently and whilst his form is hot he knows he needs to maintain focus. Following his 2015 WGC HSBC Champions win in China, he proved that he can keep his mind on the job at hand as he very nearly won the OHL Classic the week afterwards, eventually losing out in a play-off to Graeme McDowell. This is more difficult of course – a Rolex Series event with some world-class names at the top of the bookmakers’ list this week – however whilst the likes of Fowler, Rose et al get themselves acclimatised and ready for next week’s main event, someone like Knox could easily slip through and win this title in my view.

Statistically Russell fits the bill here. Current form is a given off the back of last week’s effort and with 2 top-10 finishes at the Scottish Open – one of which was on this course here at Gullane in 2015 – his credentials in that respect require no further investigation. From tee-to-green the Inverness-born star is at the top of his game – he topped GIR last week in Ireland – and the course clearly suited his eye 3 years ago as he ranked 8th for Driving Accuracy and 2nd for GIR on the week. Couple that with the fact that his short game’s working well (top-20 for scrambling in 4 of his last 5 starts) and the putter’s in great shape too on the evidence of Sunday and we have a potent combination for this week in my view. Back-to-back wins aren’t that regular I grant you, however this feels like a great opportunity for this week’s Predictor No.1 ranked player to extend his outstanding run of form.

Another player who needs to get a serious wriggle on if he’s going to make the Ryder Cup team is Graeme McDowell. Fact is though, before he can realistically start thinking about Le Golf National, the Northern Irishman needs to make his way into next week’s field at Carnoustie and this really is last chance saloon in that respect. With his airline losing his clubs on the way back from France, he had to skip Open Championship qualifying at St Anne’s Old Links and that’s left him with finishing inside the top-10 here as one of the top-3 non-exempt players as his only option if he’s going to be taking part next week, following a typically disappointing effort in Ireland last week. If the 38 year-old is going to make a late run at a Ryder Cup spot – or at the very least throw his name into the ring for a Captain’s pick – then qualifying for and contending in the biggest events in golf is his only real option at this stage of proceedings. In short, needs must this week for Graeme.

After a poor run of form since beating our headline selection Knox at the Mayakoba in 2015, which saw the 2010 US Open Champion drop as low as 239th in the World Rankings, G-Mac’s form has slowly started to turn around in recent times. 12th at Wentworth in May was encouraging with the short game working well and 5th at the Italian Open to follow featured his best putting average since that aforementioned victory on the PGA Tour nearly 3 years ago – clearly something has started to click. 2nd after day 1 at the Open de France was encouraging after missing the cut at the US Open and the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour and whilst 40th at Ballyliffin wasn’t great, he does tend to struggle at his home Open so that’s nothing to overly concern me given the price we have on offer this week. Whereas Ireland has been a struggle for McDowell over the years, Scotland has been far more productive as a venue with a win at this event in 2008 at Loch Lomond as well as a play-off defeat in 2004 at the Dunhill Links. In 2015 he sat in 2nd place here at Gullane going into the weekend after a pair of 66s and although he couldn’t push on, that’s noteworthy nonetheless. His last 6 visits to this part of the world have produced 5 top-20 finishes despite some indifferent form flanking those efforts and with the course suiting, motivation high and form bubbling just under the surface, I can see G-Mac outperforming his odds this week by some distance.

At the time of writing, both France and England are still in the World Cup and should either (or both) make it through to Sunday’s final then those players in the heat of battle here at Gullane will miss the match. Whether that has any bearing on a player’s performance is of course debatable – and could be entirely academic for some by that point anyway – however I suspect it will at the very least be a distraction of sorts. That said, I can’t escape backing two players who may have an eye on proceedings in Moscow on Sunday if all goes to plan for them, however given the prices on offer I’m willing to take that risk and trust that they can remain 100% focussed.

First up Matt Wallace who shouldn’t be a 3-figure price for any European Tour event at the current time. Including all OWGR ranking events, the Englishman’s professional record reads 9 wins from 65 starts in total and that kind of strike rate singles him out as a born winner. Yes, 6 of those wins were at Alps Tour level, however you can only beat what’s put in front of you and he’s subsequently followed that up with 3 European Tour victories including 2 in his last 10 starts. A missed cut at the Open de France was no great shock coming as it did immediately after his most recent success at the BMW International Open a little over a fortnight ago and an opening round of 80 in Ireland put paid to any hope of him making the cut last week. Should a player of his undoubted winning ability be chalked up at 100/1 though for this – on a course that only those who played in 2015 have any practical advantage on – as a result of those 2 efforts is debatable and I’m happy to take the chance. After winning in India in March he missed his next two cuts before getting his act together at the third time of asking and seriously contending in China where he led after 36 and 54 holes before eventually finishing 3rd. He topped the putting that week, however we’ve seen from his victories that when he’s won there are little discernable flaws in his game and in Germany last month he topped GIR and was 3rd for Scrambling on his way to victory. Matt Wallace at 100/1 has to be pretty much an automatic bet for me given what we’ve learnt from his career thus far.

Finally it would be foolish of me not to stick with Raphael Jacquelin here this week after backing him in Ireland where he finished a shot outside the extended EW places having started the final day in a share of 6th, plus I’d backed him here at Gullane at another long 3-figure price in 2015 when he eventually finished runner-up to Rickie Fowler. Whilst last week was disappointing that the Frenchman couldn’t muster an each-way return from a promising position, that was little compared to 2015 when he was in contention throughout the week and it took a typical birdie-fuelled finish from Fowler to deny him a shot of the play-off at least. He eventually needed an eagle to tie on the 72nd hole and he agonisingly missed his approach by inches to seal the victory for Rickie, however it was a creditable performance regardless and he cannot be disregarded now the Scottish Open has returned to Gullane 3 years down the line. With his recent form strong – 3rd at the Shot Clock Master and 10th last week are the highlights from his last 4 starts – and a further runner-up finish and 3 more top-10s at the Scottish Open to back up his aforementioned 2nd here in 2015, there’s nothing to dissuade me from having a punt on him here this week, even if he does end up having one eye on how Les Bleus are faring on Sunday should they get that far.