Close but no gold for our picks in the men’s golf competition at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Our favorite, Tommy Fleetwood, brought home the silver and the native son, Victor Perez, put on a show on Sunday to finish just outside of the podium in fourth. In the end, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler proved to be too good once again. Closing with a 29 on the back nine added a gold medal to his dominant 2024 season, making the Player of the Year vote between him and Xander Schauffele even tighter.
Now we look forward as the women head to Le Golf National to wrap up golf in the 33rd Olympiad. The competition runs Wednesday through Saturday, Aug. 7-11, televised on Golf Channel and Peacock.
The Albatros course at Le Golf National showed that while trouble lurks all over the course in the form of water and thick rough, there are plenty of birdies to be made and low scores to be shot. The course should set up similarly as it did for the men with the one exception of no. 18 playing as par 5.
My eyes told me that iron play and putting were important attributes for those atop the leaderboard this past week. So here is a short list of my favorite picks to win the gold this week.
All of the odds are the best available on oddschecker at time of publishing.
My picks to win the 2024 Women's Olympic Golf Competition
Nelly Korda 5-1
At face value taking someone who has missed 3 of their last 4 cuts to win outright at +500 seems ill advised. But I’m not going to pass on the short odds American favorite twice in a row! I think it is the perfect course for Nelly to re-find her form from earlier this year, when she won five tournaments in a row, and defend her gold medal from the Tokyo games. The combination of distance, elite iron play and putting stats make her my pick to win this week.
Linn Grant 18-1
Coming off her best finish of the year a few weeks ago, a tie for third in the Dana Open, Linn Grant fits the profile of a player who could win at Le Golf National. The combination of power and iron play should put her in contention to find the podium. She also has had tremendous success in events set up for both men and women having won the Scandinavian Mixed tournament twice in the past three years. She is my favorite mid tier play this week in France.
Yuka Saso 33-1
Yuka has been boom or bust for most of her still young career. In 21 career major championships she has seven missed cuts and still managed four top-three finishes, including two U.S. Open victories. Her distance off the tee and putting, which is ranked 10th in putts per round on the LPGA Tour, make her a great value play at 33-1 in a small field.
Who are you putting your money on to win gold? Let us know in the comments below.
