Paris Olympics Golf Odds: Favorites & Betting Odds

Here are the outright odds for men’s golf at the Paris Olympics. These odds are subject to change before the Olympics start and will fluctuate throughout the event depending on which golfers are playing well.

All golfers start with plus odds. The numbers below show how much you’d win on a $100 bet. For example, if you wager $100 on Rory McIlroy to win at +750 odds, you stand to win $750.

• Scottie Scheffler (USA): +360
• Xander Schauffele (USA): +550
• Rory McIlroy (IRL): +750
• Jon Rahm (ESP): +1000
• Collin Morikawa (USA): +1100
• Ludvig Aberg (SWE): +1200
• Tommy Fleetwood (GBR): +2000
• Joaquin Niemann (CHI): +2200
• Shane Lowry (IRL): +2200
• Viktor Hovland (NOR): +2500
• Tom Kim (KOR): +2500
• Alex Noren (SWE): +2800
• Corey Conners (CAN): +3000
• Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): +3500
• Minwoo Lee (AUS): +4000
• Matt Fitzpatrick (GBR): +4500
• Sepp Straka (AST): +4500

The field for men’s golf at the Olympics is comprised of 60 players based on the official International Golf Federation rankings on June 17, 2024. The women’s field is also made up of 60 players and is based on the IGF rankings as of June 24, 2024.

The top 15 players in the IGF automatically secured a spot, while the rest of the field is based on the rest of the rankings with no more than two golfers per country. The IGF also guarantees that there’s at least one golfer from the host nation and at least one golfer from each continent.

The Albatros Course at Le Golf National was designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge. Located in Guyancourt about 13 miles southwest of central Paris, the course opened in 1990.

The private course is a par 72 with a length of 7,331 yards. It hosts the Open de France on the European Tour and also hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. The course record is 62, set by Eduardo Romero in 2005.

Regarded as one of the best championship courses in Europe, the Albatros features slick greens, vast fairways and countless links-style bunkers, providing a formidable challenge for even the most talented golfers.

The course concludes with four stunning holes surrounded by water hazards, which often make for a thrilling finish.

As expected, Scottie Scheffler has the shortest tournament winner odds at +360. The 28-year-old American enters his first Olympics as the top-ranked golfer in the world and has already scored a number of impressive victories this year, including at The Masters in April.

Another American, Xander Schauffele, has the second-shortest odds at +550. The 30-year-old won the PGA Championship and British Open this year, cementing his status as one of the best golfers in the world. He’s also the reigning gold medal winner on the men’s side after shooting 18-under 266 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan.

Irishman Rory McIlroy is third at +750 odds after tying for third at -15 under at the 2020 Olympics. At 35, McIlroy is one of the most accomplished golfers in the world and is ranked No. 2 behind Scheffler.

Here are the past winners of the gold medal in golf:

• 2020: Xander Schauffele (USA)
• 2016: Justin Rose (GBR)
• 1904: George Lyon (CAN)
• 1900: Charles Sands (USA)

Golf has a unique history at the Olympics, recently returning to the Summer Games after a 112-year absence.

Golf was featured at the 1900 and 1904 Olympics but was abruptly canceled less than 48 hours before the 1908 Games. The explanation from the British Olympic Council was that most of the entry forms had been submitted incorrectly.

There was supposed to be a golf competition at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, but it was canceled due to a lack of interest in the sport in Scandinavia along with there not being many golf courses in the area around Stockholm.

That was once again the case eight years later (the 1916 Olympics were canceled due to World War I), as men’s and women’s golf was scheduled for the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, but it was once again canceled due to a lack of entrants.

That lack of interest ended up changing the criteria for a sport to be at the Olympics. In 1921, the International Olympic Committee revised the conditions for a sport’s participation in the Olympics, with the provision that a sport must have an international governing body and be played in 40 countries.

That ruling ended up being a death knell for golf at the Olympics in the 20th century.

The only other time golf was anywhere near the Olympics the rest of the century came in 1936 when there was an exhibition golf tournament held prior to the Berlin Olympics at the behest of Adolph Hitler. The exhibition featured a German pairing going up against a British pair of Tony Thirsk and Arnold Bently, with the winning pair getting the Hitler Trophy.

The German duo held the lead entering the final round, which led to Hitler himself coming to the course to present the trophy. But Thirsk and Bently ended up breaking the course record in the final round to win the exhibition, which led to Hitler storming away and the president of the German Golf Federation presenting the trophy instead.

Golf was reinstated as an Olympic sport at an International Olympic Committee meeting in 2009, where it was determined that the International Golf Federation would be the governing body.

The sport finally returned at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Justin Rose edged out playing partner Henrik Stenson on the final hole, which Rose birdied for a two-stroke victory.

Schauffele took home the gold in the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first American to win a gold medal in golf since 1900. He shot a 67 in the final round to pick up a one-stroke victory over Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini.

If Schauffele finishes on the podium in France, he’ll become the first two-time medalist in men’s Olympic golf history.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images