Olympic Men's Golf: Picks, Predictions and Odds

The men's Olympic golf competition begins in Paris on Thursday morning and eight of the world's top 10 players are part of the field.

World No. 1 Scheffler is +400 to claim gold on his Olympic debut while Schauffele, the champion in Tokyo three years ago, is fresh off winning The Open Championship and is +600 to claim back-to-back titles.

The Olympic competition is a traditional 72-hole stroke-play event taking place at Le Golf National, which has hosted 29 editions of the Open de France as well as the 2018 Ryder Cup, won by Europe.

2024 Olympic Men's Golf betting picks and predictions

Jon Rahm to win (+1000)

There are 60 players competing in Paris but the quirks of the qualification process make for plenty of outsiders in the market and it could pay to concentrate on the handful of top-class performers who are teeing it up.

While Scheffler and Schauffele will be hard to beat, both are making their Le Golf National debuts, which is not the case for a number of prominent European players in the field.

This 7,174-yard par-71 layout is known as an accuracy test. There is a lot of water around the course so precise operators tend to shine.

Jon Rahm doesn't completely fit that mold but the Spaniard is an elite driver of the ball and he returns to Paris in excellent form, while he also has competitive experience at this venue.

The 29-year-old struggled in defence of his Masters title in April, finishing 45th at Augusta, but he's since chalked up form finishes of 3-10-3-10-7-1 in completed events - he was forced to withdraw after one round of LIV Houston with a toe injury.

His latest outing, a victory at LIV Golf United Kingdom, marked Rahm's first triumph since joining the breakaway circuit and his first anywhere since his Masters win, so he should be full of confidence for this tilt at Olympic glory.

He also knows this venue well, finishing 10th on his Open de France debut in 2017 and fifth the following year, while he also beat Tiger Woods as a Ryder Cup rookie in Sunday singles to help Europe post a 17.5-10.5 triumph in 2018.

Collin Morikawa to win (+1100)

The third member of Team USA could prove the best betting option with Collin Morikawa expected to relish the demands of Le Golf National.

Like his teammates Scheffler, Schauffele and Wyndham Clark, Morikawa makes his course debut in this Olympic competition but he looks made for this test of tee-to-green precision.

The two-time Major-winning Californian finished fourth behind Schauffele in Tokyo three years ago and he returns for another gold medal attempt in ultra-consistent form, finishing no worse than 16th in his last 10 individual events.

Morikawa has posted top-five finishes in the Masters, the PGA Championship, the Charles Schwab Challenge, the Memorial Tournament and the Scottish Open since the beginning of April.

He should be highly motivated in his bid to win gold for Team USA.

Alex Noren 1st Round Leader (+2500)

For those looking for a third outright option, Alex Noren makes some appeal, although the best way to support the Swede could be in the 1st Round Leader market.

The 42-year-old has enjoyed a solid PGA Tour season, recording 11 top-25 finishes since the beginning of March including a 10th-placed finish at the Scottish Open and 13th at the British Open in his last two tournaments.

Noren has bundles of Le Golf National experience to call upon and is one of three Open de France champions in the field this week - Tommy Fleetwood and Guido Migliozzi are the other two.

He has form figures of 8-10-1-18 from his last four Open de France appearances, from 2016 to 2019, and he was also a part of the winning Ryder Cup side at this course.

Noren has made a number of fast starts on the PGA Tour this season with only Scheffler, Schauffele and Morikawa beating his first-round scoring average of 68.56 this season.

2024 Olympic Men's Golf outright odds

Scottie Scheffler	+400
Xander Schauffele	+600
Rory McIlroy	+800
Jon Rahm	+1000
Collin Morikawa	+1100
Ludvig Aberg	+1400
Tommy Fleetwood	+2000
Shane Lowry	+2200
Joaquin Niemann	+2200
Tom Kim	+2200

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.