Paris 2024 Olympic Golf Courses, Picks, Predictions, Odds, Courses, Format, Best Bets for Summer Olympics
This week’s men’s golf event at the Paris 2024 Olympics marks the third time the sport has been featured at the Summer Games since 1904. It’s also the biggest and most open event the Olympics have ever offered. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the men’s field was beset by the Zika virus, keeping several stars out. Then, at the 2020 Tokyo Games — which were rescheduled for 2021 due to COVID-19 — the competition was curtailed due to coronavirus concerns.
It’s no exaggeration to say this is the best, most competitive and perhaps most anticipated men’s Olympic golf tournament in 120 years. Certainly, 2021 gold medalist Xander Schauffele of the United States will be entering as the reigning champion of the PGA Championship and the Open Championship, the latter of which took place just two weeks ago.
Despite his recent success and gold medal acumen, Schauffele is not a clear favorite. That’s because world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is understandably getting the nod.
Let’s take a closer look at the event and what to expect when 60 golfers take part on Thursday just outside Paris.
Men’s Golf at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Day: August 1-4 | Location: National Golf Course — Paris | Paragraph: 72
Three things to know
1. Grand Medal Pair: Two golfers — Scheffler and Schauffele — have the chance to do something unprecedented by winning a major and a gold medal in the same year. Scheffler won the Masters in April, along with the PGA and Open for Schauffele. A medal here, while not officially counted toward PGA Tour stats, could help influence who ultimately wins the PGA Tour Player of the Year award. Neither Justin Rose in 2016 nor Schauffele in 2021 accomplished the feat. The third major winner in 2024, Bryson DeChambeau, was not ranked high enough in the Official World Golf Rankings by the time the U.S. team attempted to qualify for the Olympics.
2. Not the same golf course: When the European Ryder Cup team set up Le Golf National for the 2018 Ryder Cup, they narrowed the fairways and made the grass longer. The United States were beaten. But the European Ryder Cup team wasn’t responsible for setting up the course this week, and if you’ve only experienced Le Golf National from that event, you might not realize when it started.
“The rough isn’t as bad as it was at the Ryder Cup and the course isn’t as hard right now,” Scheffler explained. “We’ll see what the weather does for the rest of the week, but I’m sure it’ll be a little harder if we don’t get any rain. [Caddie] Teddy [Scott] mentioned how the golf course changed from practice round to tournament… so maybe this week the golf course will have a little bit of a similar change.”
“I was expecting more than I thought because of the Ryder Cup, and I played here last year at the French Open,” added Tom Kim of South Korea. “But the course looks really good. I think it’s going to be a really good test of golf for everyone. You can’t really fake it here. You have to play some really good golf here to get a medal, and I think it’s going to be a great test.”
3. Korea’s Opportunities: Kim and Ben An have a chance to skip their mandatory military service this week by winning medals. One of the biggest stories of last year — completely overshadowed by the Ryder Cup — was Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im won medals at the Asian Games and are now exempt from military service.Kim and An will try to do the same this week.
“I think the easiest answer for us is that we’re here to play well this week,” Kim said. “We’re not focused on that. We’re here to represent our country. I want to be honest, I want Ben and I to be up there in that stadium not for immunity but for our country. That’s the most important part. It’s the pride of being Korean; we have our services and that’s what it is. We’re going to go all the way, and we’re going to play our best, and I really hope he and I are up there on that podium.”
Paris 2024 Olympic Stadium, Odds
This top group is strong, but it drops off pretty quickly once you get to the bottom 30. Let’s take a look at a few of the favorites and how they’re doing this week.
- Scottie Scheffler (May 18): Scheffler is -1100 odds to make the top 20 this week if that reflects his performance this year.
- Xander Schauffele (11/2): Schauffele has been on a roll this week, and he’s also had seven straight top-10s at major events since early May. If you’re worried about Open hangovers, don’t be. “We were playing a practice round today, and I was really thinking about it like, ‘Man, Xander is the same guy today after winning the tournament as if he lost the tournament by a point.’ Like he’s the same guy.”
- Rory McIlroy (15/2): McIlroy spent the early part of his Olympic week playing the Old Course at St. Andrews, which you’ll definitely enjoy watching. And while the Old Course isn’t exactly a replica of Le Golf National, Rory’s been playing well enough (with the exception of the Open Championship) that it hasn’t really mattered. He lost the bronze medal play-off last time out, and with six top-15s in his last seven starts, it’s hard to see him not competing this year.
- Jon Rahm (10-1): Last week, Rahm won his first LIV Golf event in the UK, and now, with four consecutive top-10s, the strange start to the major season seems like a distant memory.
- Collin Morikawa (11-1): Morikawa will thrive here. He’s played the best golf in the world without a win in 2024, and only the next guy on this list — Ludvig Åberg — comes close.
- Ludvig Aberg (12-1)
- Tommy Fleetwood (20-1)
- Shane Lowry (22-1)
- Joaquin Niemann (22-1)
- Viktor Hovland (25-1)
- Tom Kim (25-1)
Paris 2024 Olympics Predictions and Picks
