This week's men's golf competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics marks the third time the sport will be contested at the Summer Games since 1904. It also represents the best and most open field that the Olympics has provided. In the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the men's field was besieged by the Zika virus, which kept several stars from attending. Then at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics -- held in 2021 due to COVID-19 -- the competition was subdued due to concerns around coronavirus.
It is not a stretch to say that this is the best, most competitive and perhaps most anticipated men's Olympic golf tournament in 120 years. It certainly helps that the 2021 gold medalist, Xander Schauffele of the United States, enters as the reigning winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship, the latter coming just two weeks ago.
Despite his recent success and gold-medal acumen, Schauffele is somehow not the favorite. That's because the No. 1 player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, understandably gets that nod.
Let's take a closer look at this event and what to expect when 60 golfers tee it up on Thursday just outside of Paris.
Men's golf in 2024 Paris Olympics
Dates: Aug. 1-4 | Location: Le Golf National -- Paris | Par: 72
Three things to know
1. Major-medal double: Two golfers -- Scheffler and Schauffele -- have an opportunity to do something that has not been accomplished before by winning a major championship and a gold medal in the same year. Scheffler took the Masters in April to go along with the PGA and Open for Schauffele. A medal here, while it would not officially count toward PGA Tour statistics, could help influence who eventually wins the PGA Tour Player of the Year award. Neither Justin Rose in 2016 nor Schauffele in 2021 were able to accomplish the feat. The third 2024 major winner, Bryson DeChambeau, was not ranked high enough in the Official World Golf Rankings at the time the American team was determined to qualify for the Olympics.
2. Not the same golf course: When the European Ryder Cup team set Le Golf National up for the 2018 Ryder Cup, it narrowed the fairways and grew the rough. The United States team got smoked. But the European Ryder Cup team is not in charge of course setup this week, and if your only experience of Le Golf National is from that event, you may not recognize it when this event starts.
"The rough is not nearly as penal as it was for the Ryder Cup and right now the golf course is not nearly as firm," Scheffler explained. "We'll see how the weather is for the rest of the week, but I'm sure it will firm up a bit if we get no rain. [Caddie] Teddy [Scott] did mention how much the course changed from practice rounds to tournaments ... so maybe it will be a little bit similar this week in terms of the golf course changing."
"I was expecting a lot more rough than I would imagine because of the Ryder Cup, and I played here last year at The French Open," added Tom Kim of South Korea. "But the course is actually looking in really good shape. I think it's going to be a really good test of golf for everyone. You really can't fake it around here. You have to play some really good golf around here to win medals, and I think it's going to be a great test."
3. South Korea's opportunity: Kim and Ben An have a chance to forego their mandatory military service this week by winning a medal. One of the most notable stories of the last year -- that got totally covered up by the Ryder Cup -- was that Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im won medals at the Asian Games and are now themselves exempt from service. Kim and An will try to do the same this week.
"I think the easiest answer for us is here we're to play good this week," Kim said. "We are not focused on that. We are here to represent our country. I want to be honest, I want me and Ben to be standing in that stadium not for exemption but for our country. That's the most important part. That's the pride of being a South Korean; we have our services and it is what it is. We are going to go throughout, and we are going to play our best, and I really hope he and I are standing on that podium."
2024 Paris Olympics field, odds
The top of this field is tremendous, but it drops fairly quickly once you get to the bottom 30. Let's look at the handful of favorites and how they're all playing coming into this week.
- Scottie Scheffler (18/5): Scheffler is -1100 to finish in the top 20 this week if that tells you anything about how his year is going.
- Xander Schauffele (11/2): Schauffele takes momentum into this week, and he also takes seven consecutive top 10 finishes at big-time events since early May. If you're worried about an Open hangover, don't be. Here's Scheffler: "We were playing a practice round today, and I was actually thinking about it like, 'Man, Xander is the exact same today after winning tournament as he was if he had lost the tournament by one.' Like he was the exact same person."
- Rory McIlroy (15/2): McIlroy spent the early part of his Olympics week playing the Old Course at St. Andrews, which you definitely love to see. And while the Old is no facsimile for Le Golf National, Rory is playing well enough right now (Open Championship aside) that it should not matter. He lost out in a playoff for the bronze medal last time around, and given his six top 15s in his last seven starts, it's tough to see him not contending this year.
- Jon Rahm (10-1): Rahm won his first LIV Golf event last week in the United Kingdom, and now, with four straight top 10s, that weird start to the major season seems a bit of a distant memory.
- Collin Morikawa (11-1): Morikawa should thrive here. He's played the best golf of anyone in the world who has yet to win in 2024, and only the next guy on this list -- Ludvig Åberg -- is even close to him.
- Ludvig Åberg (12-1)
- Tommy Fleetwood (20-1)
- Shane Lowry (22-1)
- Joaquin Niemann (22-1)
- Viktor Hovland (25-1)
- Tom Kim (25-1)
2024 Paris Olympics picks, predictions
| 1 | |
| Gold medal winner (11-1): It's the perfect situation for Morikawa. He's been absolutely incredible so far this year but without any hardware to show for it. Of everyone in the field over their last 36 rounds, only Scheffler and Schauffele have been better. He has 10 consecutive top 16s, and if the course does firm up a bit like Scheffler talked about, then all the better for Morikawa, who should thrive in an iron contest. | |
| 2 | |
| Contender (11/2): Brave of me to pick the hottest player in the world to contend. Where do we even begin? Of the players in this field, Schauffele ranks second in strokes gained, second in approach play, third from tee to green and first in putting over his last 36 rounds. It would be stunning if both he and Scheffler finished outside the top 10. | |
| 3 | |
| Sleeper (120-1): It's a great tournament for long shots. There are a lot of good players but not so many that it's impossible to see a 100-1 or longer player winning the tournament. Manasser is coming off his first made cut at a major since 2016 at The Open, and his confidence will be at a high. The numbers are there to back it up a bit, too. He's top 15 in this field from tee to green over his last 36 rounds and has posted three top 15s since missing the cut at the U.S. Open. | |
Kyle Porter, Greg DuCharme preview the Olympic Men's Golf Competition at Le Golf National. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
