Scottie Scheffler Will Add Another Feather In His 2024 Cap By Winning Gold At The Paris Summer Olympics

Bonjour, homies. The PGA TOUR steps aside this week for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Golf returned to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics after a 112-year hiatus. Justin Rose won the Olympic Gold in 2016 and Xander Schauffele is the gold medalist from the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. 

The format for the Summer Olympics golf tournament is surprisingly straightforward. It's a 72-hole, stroke-play, no-cut event with 60 players from 33 countries. Golfers with the three lowest scores make the podium. Ties for the gold, silver, and bronze medals are broken by a sudden-death playoff.

Le Golf National's Albatross course in Guyancourt, France, hosts Golf at the Paris Olympic Games. It was the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup and hosts the "Open de France" on the DP World Tour. No one from 2024 Team USA — Xander, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, and Wyndham Clark — played in the 2018 Ryder Cup. 

At FanDuel as of Wednesday, July 13, Scheffler is the betting favorite (+350), followed by Schauffele (+550), Irish Rory McIlroy (+750), Morikawa (+1000), Spanish Jon Rahm (+1000), Swede Ludvig Åberg (+1400), and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (+2000). 

For the record, I'm using my PGA TOUR 2024 bankroll for the Paris Summer Olympics. Although, I wish I was using someone else's bankroll because I'm getting murdered this season. After bricking last week's 3M Open, my PGA TOUR 2024 balance is -68.81 units (u). 

Paris Summer Olympics 2024 Betting Card

Outright Picks 

The odds chosen are the best available at legal U.S. sportsbooks.

Scottie Scheffler (+400) at BetMGM 

Betting Scottie to win the Olympic Gold just feels right. Scheffler is World No. 1, first in the FedExCup standings, a two-time Masters champion, the back-to-back PLAYERS champion, and a six-time PGA TOUR winner this season. Plus, this is a 60-golfer field, 40 of which have little to no chance of winning. 

One of the biggest reasons I've lost so much money this season is that I keep talking myself out of betting Scheffler due to him always being the favorite. However, Scheffler's +400 odds of winning Olympic Gold are the same as the Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship, both of which he won. Scottie was +500 at The Masters, for Christ's sake. 

2024 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler poses during the green jacket ceremony at Augusta National Golf Club. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network)

Also, the crossover courses to Le Golf National are TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS), TPC River Highlands (Travelers), Bay Hill Club & Lodge (the Arnold Palmer Invitational), and Muirfield Village Golf Club (the Memorial). Well, Scheffler won at all of those courses in 2024. 

Finally, this is the god-damn Olympics where Americans dominate. As cheesy as this sounds, I want to root for an American at the Summer Olympics. Scheffler is like golf's Simone Biles only he doesn't quit. Even if he gets arrested the morning of one of his tee times. 

BET 2.5u on Scottie Scheffler (+400) to profit 10u. 

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‘Winner Without Scheffler & Schauffele’: Hideki Matsuyama (+2200) at DraftKings 

The 2021 Masters champion is one of the few guys that can compete with Scheffler. More importantly, Matsuyama's odds for the 2024 Summer Olympics are cheap enough to squeeze him with Scottie onto my betting card. Hideki tied for third at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics but lost in a playoff to C.T. Pan for the bronze medal. 

Again, TPC Sawgrass and Muirfield are comp courses for Le Gold National and Matsuyama plays well at both. He has four top-10s in THE PLAYERS, including T6 this season and fifth in 2023. Hideki has four top-10s at the Memorial too, with a win in 2014 and a T8 this year. 

Hideki Matsuyama tees off on the fourth hole during a practice round for the Paris Summer Olympics at Le Golf National in France. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Furthermore, "par" is a good score on these tough courses. He is fourth on TOUR this year in scrambling and leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained (SG): Around-the-Green. Matsuyama is tied for 13th this season in "Approach Putting", which is important at Le Golf National due to the Albatross course's massive greens.  

Lastly, aside from recent struggles in Scotland for its Open and The 152nd Open Championship, Hideki has been great this season. The 32-year-old won The Genesis Invitational in February ("signature event" with the best players in the world) and has four more top-10s, including sixth in the 2024 U.S. Open. 

BET 1u on Hideki Matsuyama (+2200) to profit 22u. 

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Finishing Position Bets 

Make placement bets at BetMGM, DraftKings, or FanDuel. BetMGM never applies "dead heat" rules. DraftKings and FanDuel have top-5, -10, and -20 bets that "include ties" for the Paris Summer Olympics. 

Xander Schauffele Top-5 (+100) at DraftKings: 1u to win 1u 

The same thing I said about Scottie applies to Schauffele. Except, I only have enough money to bet one of them and I settled on Scheffler because he is the best. Anyway, there's a legit conversation in the golf space about who's having a better season between Scottie and Xander. I'd give the nod to Scheffler, but Schauffele has a case. 

Xander Schauffele on the podium after winning the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

For those of you parachuting into golf for the Olympics, Xander is the 2024 Champion Golfer of the Year and the reigning PGA champion. He's second in the Official World Golf Rankings and FedExCup standings behind Scheffler. Schauffele has 15 top-10 finishes in 30 career majors and this is a major-like tournament. 

Min Woo Lee Top-10 (+280) at DraftKings: 0.5u to win 1.4u 

I don't get it because Lee sucks with his irons, but he plays well at Florida courses and Le Golf National is a Florida-type course in France. Min Woo tied for second at the 2024 Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Gardens, Florida, a comp for the Albatross course at Le Golf National, and T6 at THE PLAYERS in 2023. 

In addition, Lee is an elite driver and a solid putter, so he can play well here despite his poor iron-play. He is sixth in SG: Off-the-Tee on TOUR this year and seventh in 3-Putt Avoidance. According to DataGolf.com, Min Woo has picked up strokes on the greens in seven of his last eight starts, including all four majors. 

Granted, this is mostly a "hunch," but Lee has the game to win a "big boy" tournament. He has four career wins on three continents (the Scottish, Handa Vic and Macao Opens, and the Australia PGA Championship) and is only 26 years old. If he can get hot with his irons, Lee could make it to the podium at the Paris Summer Olympics. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I'll add bets to my PGA Tour 2024 betting record via X all season.