By Chris Havlicek
Updated 7/31/24 2:03pm ET
The men’s Olympic golf competition tees off tomorrow with 60 golfers from 32 countries competing at Le Golf National in Paris, which also hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. A familiar name sits atop betting boards. Scottie Scheffler is the +350 favorite, followed by 2021 Olympic gold medal winner Xander Schauffele (+550).
There is no cut for the 72-hole stroke play competition; the top three finishers on the leaderboard will win Gold, Silver, and Bronze Olympic medals.
Four American golfers will represent Team USA. Joining Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked golfer, is world No. 2 Xander Schauffele, who won this year’s PGA Championship and British Open. Fellow Americans and past major champions Collin Morikawa (+900) and Wyndham Clark (+7000) will join them.
Dates/Location:
What: The XXXIII Olympic Games
Where: Le Golf Nacional, Paris, France
When: Thursday-Sunday, August 1st – August 4th
Defending Gold Medalist: Xander Schauffele
The Course:
If the Albatros course at Le Golf National outside of Paris looks familiar, that’s because it should. It’s long-hosted the DP World Tour’s Open de France, and in 2018 it was the venue for the Ryder Cup when the Europeans beat the Americans 17.5 to 10.5.
The 7174-yd., par 71 set-up will pose a stiff challenge largely based on the course’s fast greens, which are rolling at “Olympic speeds”, according to groundskeepers. Le Golf National rose from once-level farm grounds to the point where it now presents 45 feet of elevation change in the normally flat French countryside. The “Albatross Course” has a distinct rhythm and pace that moves from a high degree of difficulty “target golf” set-up to a more relaxed stage for meadowland play (Nos. 3-14), and then back again to tightly defended waterfront shot-making.
The Field:
The 60-player field is the result of a balancing act in qualifications that had two broad goals – assemble the best golfers in the world from as many countries as possible. The Olympic lineup includes 10 of the top 15 players on the Official World Golf Ranking. The only other previous medalist is 2021 bronze medalist C.T. Pan (+22000) from Chinese Taipei.
Odds: Top 10 (Courtesy of FanDuel):
Scottie Scheffler +350
Xander Schauffele +550
Rory McIlroy +750
Collin Morikawa +900
John Rahm +900
Ludvig Aberg +1400
Tommy Fleetwood +2000
Joaquin Niemann +2200
Viktor Hovland +2500
Tom Kim +3000
Keys To Victory:
The biggest issue for players will simply be staying on the 24.7 acres of rye-grass/fescue fairways. The narrow fairways tend to meander alongside multiple water hazards that readily feed into fairway bunkers, ponds, fescue, and deep rough. The one saving grace of their shaping is that they are relatively flat, thus providing comfort for approach shots and more incentive to hit them, even if that means laying up off the tee.
Players who exercise good course management, and those who figure out the speed of the greens throughout the weekend, will find themselves on top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock
