2024 Paris Olympic Golf Betting Picks, Odds, Course Preview and Prediction
2024 Paris Olympic Golf Betting Picks, Odds, Course Preview and Prediction
The 2024 Summer Olympics heads to Paris and a familiar venue in Le Golf National. The 2019 Ryder Cup host is a venue that golf fans certainly have some familiarity with. Not only did it host the aforementioned Ryder Cup, in which Europe handily defeated the United States, but the Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge design has also been the home of the French Open on the DP World Tour since 1999. In terms of the format, the Olympics is a 72-hole stroke play event held across four days with a 60-player field. Similar to Signature Events on the PGA Tour, there will be no cut, and while there are some excellent players at the top end of the field, the bottom is quite weak.
The 2024 Masters Champion, Scottie Scheffler, and newly crowned Champion Golfer of the Year, Xander Schauffele, will represent the United States alongside Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark. Schauffele will look to capture his second Gold Medal in as many tries, but he will have to navigate a strong group of challengers that also includes Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, and Hideki Matsuyama.
2024 Paris Olympics Golf DATE, START TIME, AND WHERE TO WATCH
- Date: August 1-4, 2024
- Where: Le Golf National, Guyancourt, France
- Where to Watch: Golf Channel, USA
2024 Paris Olympics Golf ODDS
- Winner: Scottie Scheffler (+400), Xander Schauffele (+600), Rory McIlroy (+850)
Click here for the latest 2024 Paris Olympics Golf odds
Olympic Men's Golf: Course Preview
Le Golf National
Constructed by the French Golf Federation in 1991 as the home of the national technical center for golf at the host venue of the French Open every year, Le Golf National is a beautiful and challenging venue that includes two 18-hole courses and a 7-hole beginner course. Le Golf National was built in hopes of hosting large-scale, meaningful tournaments, and within 40 years of its construction, it will now have hosted a Ryder Cup and Olympics. Le Golf National bears a strong resemblance to TPC Sawgrass and other stadium style American golf courses. Le Golf National features large natural amphitheaters, an abundance of water, and a tremendous amount of exciting risk/reward holes down the stretch. While TPC Sawgrass features stronger, less gimmicky architecture, the ethos of both golf courses is incredibly similar. Step one is to keep the ball in play off the tee and avoid water, while step two is to generate scoring opportunities via elite approach play.
In terms of the actual layout of the golf course, Le Golf National is a par 71 with four par threes and three par fives. The four par threes all measure between 175 and 210 yards, while just four of the 11 par fours measure over 450 yards. The golf course has typically played in the 7,100-to-7,300-yard range for French Opens and the Ryder Cup, yet I would expect Olympic Golf organizers to play around with tee boxes and err on the easier side. Olympic organizers have shown in 2016 and 2020 that they are not interested in a demonstratively challenging setup. Justin Rose won in Rio at 16 under par, while Xander Schauffele won in Tokyo at 18 under par. Tokyo was particularly benign, as Rory Sabbatini shot -17 at Kasumigaseki, and 26/60 players shot 10-under par or better. Despite featuring an incredibly weak field at the back end, only six of 60 players failed to break par.
With that being said, Le Golf National is a harder golf course on paper than both Kasumigaseki and the Olympic Golf Course in Rio, yet the surrounding area of Paris has received record rainfall in 2024 including a downpour at the Opening Ceremonies. While Le Golf National is still an incredibly narrow golf course with water hazards at every turn, we saw players get to 20-under par at TPC Sawgrass this year under similarly receptive conditions, and I would not be surprised if the 2024 Olympics followed suit. I still believe a winner in the 14 to 17-under range sounds reasonable, and over the last five years, the French Open at Le Golf National has been won between seven and 16 under par. Le Golf National will be both softer than its normal conditions for the French Open, and the field will be far stronger at the top as well, leading me to believe that scoring will be on par with to slightly easier than what we see every year in the annual DP World Tour event. As previously alluded to with TPC Sawgrass, Le Golf National is a positional golf course with thick rough and plentiful water hazards, and I will primarily be looking for players with elite accuracy off the tee and strong middle to long iron approach play.
Olympic Men's Golf Key Stats
- Total Driving
- Proximity 175 yards plus
- Strokes Gained Ball-striking: High Missed Fairway Penalty
Olympic Men's Golf: Outright Picks
Collin Morikawa (+1100) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
Collin Morikawa’s greatest strengths have always been his accuracy off the tee and middle to long iron play, which are two skills that are heavily accentuated at Le Golf National. It has been a banner year for the two-time Major winner, and all that is missing from his 2024 resume is a victory. Morikawa has gained over three strokes ball-striking in seven straight starts, and he has not finished outside of the top-20 in a golf tournament since prior to major season. Coming off another 16th place finish at the Open Championship where he actually recorded his best ball-striking week of the season, Morikawa is primed for an Olympic Gold Medal.
Sepp Straka (+5500) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
Sepp Straka is always a threat on any golf course with a higher missed fairway rate due to his elite accuracy off the tee, and Le Golf National is no different. Straka ranks top-20 in this field in all major relevant driving metric this week, including third in overall accuracy. It should not come as a surprise that he has finished top-10 at all four of my strongest, water-heavy, high missed fairway penalty comp courses: PGA National, TPC Sawgrass, Muirfield Village, and TPC Southwind. Straka won the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in 2022, lost in a playoff at TPC Southwind that same year, and finished fifth at the Memorial this year. He is also coming off a top-25 finish at the Open Championship which also featured an incredibly high missed fairway penalty, and we haven't even mentioned his runner-up finish at Royal Liverpool, which also heavily accentuated driving accuracy. Straka should yield a significant advantage this week via the strength of his driver, and I'm expecting a strong performance out of the Austrian in Paris.
GOLF ODDS
Article Author
Andy Lack is a PGA Tour writer and podcaster from Manhattan, New York. Andy came to OddsChecker in January 2022 after previously writing for Golf Digest, GolfWRX, Rotoballer, and the Score. Andy is also the host of a golf betting and daily fantasy podcast, Inside Golf Podcast, as well as "The Scramble” with Rick Gehman, and a recurring guest on the Pat Mayo Experience. In his free time, Andy is still grinding away at his lifelong dream of qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, and if not writing, can likely be found somewhere on a golf course.